Word.ws English Dictionary

déjà vu

/ˌdeɪ.ʒɑː ˈvuː/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

British/ˌdɛjʒɑːˈvʉw/

déjà vu noun: the subjective, unexpected feeling of having experienced something before, especially when that is not the case.

Noun

déjà vu (usually uncountable, plural déjà vus)

  1. (usually) The subjective, unexpected feeling of having experienced something before, especially when that is not the case.
    • Why did some déjà vus pattern or pulse at certain peak moments and not others?1996, José Argüelles, “The Secret Time Sharers and the Discovery of the Pulsar Code”, in The Arcturus Probe: Tales and Reports of an Ongoing Investigation, Flagstaff, Ariz.: Light Technology...
    • He had to get back. Soon. All these déjà vus were killing him.2005, Lynn Kurland, chapter 27, in Dreams of Stardust, New York, N.Y.: Jove Books, →ISBN, page 271
  2. (usually) Loosely or humorously, anything one has done before or is being repeated.
    • Have I done this before? Talk about déjà vu.

Verb

déjà vu (third-person singular simple present déjà vues, present participle déjà vuing, simple past and past participle déjà vued)

  1. (colloquial, intransitive) To experience déjà vu; to see (something) as though having seen it before.
    • Still deja vuing, I said, “Jinx. You owe me a Coke.”2008, Darren Lamere, Eerily Familiar
    • Trees looked familiar, moments of landscape were perfectly déjà-vued.2011, Neil Gaiman, American Gods (Tenth Anniversary Edition), William Morrow 2011, p. 139

déjà vu meaning in Arabic and Persian

déjà vu in Arabic

something which one has or suspects to have seen or experienced before
دِيجَا ڤُو deja vū

déjà vu in Persian

something which one has or suspects to have seen or experienced before
دژاوو dežâvu

Synonyms of déjà vu

Forms of déjà vu

Noun
pluraldéjà vus
alternative formdeja vu
alternative formdejavu
Verb
third-person singular presentdéjà vues
present participledéjà vuing
past participledéjà vued
pastdéjà vued

Origin of déjà vu

Unadapted borrowing from French déjà vu (literally “already seen”), coined by Émile Boirac in Revue philosophique de la France et de l'étranger, 1876.

Words formed from déjà vu

Questions about déjà vu

What does déjà vu mean?
Déjà vu means the subjective, unexpected feeling of having experienced something before, especially when that is not the case.
What is déjà vu in Arabic?
Déjà vu in Arabic is دِيجَا ڤُو (deja vū). See Déjà vu meaning in Arabic.
What part of speech is déjà vu?
Déjà vu can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce déjà vu?
Déjà vu is pronounced /ˌdeɪ.ʒɑː ˈvuː/.
What is the plural of déjà vu?
The plural of déjà vu is déjà vus.

Words near déjà vu in the dictionary

  1. déjeuné
  2. déjeunés
  3. déjeûner
  4. déjeûners
  5. déjà entendu
  6. déjà vu
  7. déjà vued
  8. déjà vues
  9. déjà vuing
  10. déjà vus
  11. Délı̨nę

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: déjà vu (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-déjà vu.wav, en-uk-dejavu.ogg.

Cite this entry: “déjà vu.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/d%C3%A9j%C3%A0_vu. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.