Refrain

How to spell refrain

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce refrain

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does refrain mean?

1. verbTo hold oneself back from doing something; to stop oneself from acting on an impulse.
2. nounA line or verse that is repeated at intervals throughout a song or poem.

Refrain in a sentence

• verb

  Passengers should refrain from smoking anywhere on the platform.

• noun

  The whole crowd joined in on the familiar refrain of the anthem.

• verb

  She had to refrain from checking her phone during the meeting.

• noun

  Each verse of the poem ends with the same haunting refrain.

Where does refrain come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The verb refrain comes from the Latin refrenare, which meant 'to bridle' or 'to hold in check', built from re- 'back' and frenum, the 'bridle' or 'bit' placed in a horse's mouth. The literal image is of pulling a horse back by the reins, and that sense of reining in an impulse survives directly in the modern meaning of holding oneself back from doing something. English borrowed it through Old French refraindre in the 1300s. The noun refrain, meaning the recurring line of a song, has a related but separate Old French source, refrain, ultimately from Latin refringere 'to break up', because the repeated phrase 'broke' the structure of the verse at regular intervals. The two meanings converged on the same English spelling, which is why one word carries both ideas; the steady ai vowel spelling is the trap, since the sound could tempt a writer toward 'refrane'.

How the word is built

• re- (back)
• frain (from Latin frenare: to bridle, restrain)