Definitions for RIFF
rɪfriff

Princeton's WordNetRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Riff, Riffiannoun

   a Berber living in northern Morocco

2. riffverb

   a jazz ostinato; usually provides a background for a solo improvisation

3. flick, flip, thumb, riffle, leaf, riffverb

   look through a book or other written material

   "He thumbed through the report"; "She leafed through the volume"

4. riffverb

   play riffs

WiktionaryRate this definition:5.0 / 1 vote

1. riffnoun

   A repeated instrumental melody line in a song.

2. riffnoun

   A clever or witty remark.

3. riffverb

   To improvise in the performance or practice of an art, especially by expanding on or making novel use of traditional themes.

WikipediaRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Riff

   A riff is a repeated chord progression or refrain in music (also known as an ostinato figure in classical music); it is a pattern, or melody, often played by the rhythm section instruments or solo instrument, that forms the basis or accompaniment of a musical composition. Though riffs are most often found in rock music, heavy metal music, Latin, funk, and jazz, classical music is also sometimes based on a riff, such as Ravel's Boléro. Riffs can be as simple as a tenor saxophone honking a simple, catchy rhythmic figure, or as complex as the riff-based variations in the head arrangements played by the Count Basie Orchestra. David Brackett (1999) defines riffs as "short melodic phrases", while Richard Middleton (1999) defines them as "short rhythmic, melodic, or harmonic figures repeated to form a structural framework". Rikky Rooksby states: "A riff is a short, repeated, memorable musical phrase, often pitched low on the guitar, which focuses much of the energy and excitement of a rock song."BBC Radio 2, in compiling its list of 100 Greatest Guitar Riffs, defined a riff as the "main hook of a song", often beginning the song, and is "repeated throughout it, giving the song its distinctive voice".Use of the term has extended to comedy, where riffing means the verbal exploration of a particular subject, thus moving the meaning away from the original jazz sense of a repeated figure that a soloist improvises over, to instead indicate the improvisation itself—improvising on a melody or progression as one would improvise on a subject by extending a singular thought, idea or inspiration into a bit, or routine.

ChatGPTRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. riff

   A riff is a repeated phrase or pattern in music, typically used in jazz and popular music, that is played by a single instrument or group of instruments. It forms the main theme or catchy element of a song or piece of music.

The Nuttall EncyclopediaRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Riff

   the name given to the N. coast-lands of Morocco from Tangiers to Algeria; is a mountainous and woody region, with a rugged foreshore, inhabited by lawless Berbers.

Suggested ResourcesRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. RIFF

   What does RIFF stand for? -- Explore the various meanings for the RIFF acronym on the Abbreviations.com website.

Surnames Frequency by Census RecordsRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. RIFF

   According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Riff is ranked #55255 in terms of the most common surnames in America.
   
   The Riff surname appeared 372 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 0 would have the surname Riff.
   
   91.4% or 340 total occurrences were White.
   5.6% or 21 total occurrences were of Hispanic origin.
   1.8% or 7 total occurrences were American Indian or Alaskan Native.

Matched Categories

1. • Berber
   • Peruse
   • Play

How to pronounce RIFF?

1. Alex

   US English

   David

   US English

   Mark

   US English

   Daniel

   British

   Libby

   British

   Mia

   British

   Karen

   Australian

   Hayley

   Australian

   Natasha

   Australian

   Veena

   Indian

   Priya

   Indian

   Neerja

   Indian

   Zira

   US English

   Oliver

   British

   Wendy

   British

   Fred

   US English

   Tessa

   South African

How to say RIFF in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of RIFF in Chaldean Numerology is: 1

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of RIFF in Pythagorean Numerology is: 3

Examples of RIFF in a Sentence

1. John Podesta:

   Wonder if tomorrow night, we should be more purposeful about generating the ‘U-S-A, U-S-A' chants during her riff about the need for togetherness and unity … with people holding the little American flags.

2. Jon Callas:

   Those of us who are doing secure communication believe we need to do things about the real horrible stuff, charging money for end-to-end encryption is a way to get rid of the riff-raff.

3. Anne Rice:

   The truth is, laughter always sounds more perfect than weeping. Laughter flows in a violent riff and is effortlessly melodic. Weeping is often fought, choked, half strangled, or surrendered to with humiliation.

4. Steve Kukowski:

   There used to be a saying that 40 below keeps out the riff-raff, that's not true anymore.

5. Jeff Annison and Paul Scanlan:

   We don’t expect these companies to experience much success. Equity crowdfunding isn’t easy or inexpensive, and the SEC has important safeguards like bad actor checks and reporting requirements that will eliminate most of the riff-raff, plus, the public is sophisticated these days and has access to enough information to make well-informed decisions.

Popularity rank by frequency of use

References

1. ^ Princeton's WordNet
   http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=RIFF
2. ^ Wiktionary
   https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Riff
3. ^ Wikipedia
   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riff
4. ^ ChatGPT
   https://chat.openai.com
5. ^ The Nuttall Encyclopedia
   https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/12342/pg12342-images.html#Riff
6. ^ Surnames Frequency by Census Records
   https://www.census.gov/topics/population/genealogy/data/2010_surnames.html