The meaning of REFRAIN is curb, restrain. How to use refrain in a sentence.
There are three meanings listed in OED's entry for the noun refrain. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definitions, usage, and quotation evidence. OED's earliest evidence for refrain is from before 1413, in the writing of Geoffrey Chaucer, poet and administrator.
If you refrain from doing something, you deliberately do not do it. Mrs. Hardie refrained from making any comment.
REFRAIN definition: 1. to avoid doing or stop yourself from doing something: 2. a short part of a song or poem that is…. Learn more.
A refrain (from Vulgar Latin: refringere, "to repeat", through Old French: refraindre) is the line or lines that are repeated in poetry or in music —the " chorus " of a song.
- a phrase or verse recurring at intervals in a song or poem, esp. at the end of each stanza; chorus. 2. a. a musical setting for a poetic refrain. b. melody; tune. c. the recurrent section of a rondo. Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc.
A refrain is a patterned repetition, typically appearing at the end of stanzas or sections and serving a greater purpose within the work. For example, a writer might repeat the word “shadow” several times in a poem.
Use the verb refrain if you have a sudden impulse to do something and you have stopped yourself from doing it. It's usually hard to refrain from doing something: you might find it difficult to refrain from eating dessert after dinner, for example — especially when your aunt makes her double chocolate chunk brownies.