segue

See also: segué

English

WOTD – 7 December 2006

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian segue (“it follows”), from seguire (“to follow”), from Latin sequor; originally a musical term.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈsɛɡweɪ/
  • Audio (US)(file)
  • Homophone: Segway

Verb

segue (third-person singular simple present segues, present participle seguing, simple past and past participle segued)

  1. To move smoothly from one state or subject to another.
    I can tell she’s going to segue from our conversation about school to the topic of marriage.
  2. (music) To make a smooth transition from one theme to another.
    Beethoven’s symphonies effortlessly segue from one theme to the next.
  3. (of a disk jockey) To play a sequence of records with no talk between them.

Usage notes

In sense “move from one subject to another”, contrast with non sequitur (“abrupt transition”), which is etymologically opposite (“follow” vs. “does not follow”). However, segue has connotations of moving between distinct subjects, and thus to segue often means to change rather abruptly, with at best a pretense of smooth transition.

Translations

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Noun

segue (plural segues)

  1. An instance of segueing, a transition.

Translations

Italian

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈsɛɡwe/

Verb

segue

  1. third-person singular present indicative of seguire

Portuguese

Pronunciation

Verb

segue

  1. third-person singular (ele and ela, also used with você and others) present indicative of seguir
  2. second-person singular (tu, sometimes used with você) affirmative imperative of seguir
  3. first-person singular (eu) present subjunctive of segar
  4. third-person singular (ele and ela, also used with você and others) present subjunctive of segar
  5. third-person singular (você) affirmative imperative of segar
  6. third-person singular (você) negative imperative of segar
This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.