Sample Sentences for
refrain
grouped by contextual meaning
(editor-reviewed)

refrain as in:  a repeated refrain

Show 3 more with this contextual meaning
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    In the poem, the final line acts as a refrain, appearing after each stanza.
    refrain = repeated line
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    "Practice makes perfect" became the familiar refrain of her childhood coach.
    refrain = something repeated regularly
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    The constant refrain heard from the party leadership is not to let unachievable perfection become the enemy of good legislation.
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Show 10 more with 2 word variations
  • •
    Theo had begun reading the refrain and ended up singing.  (source)
    refrain = lines repeated in a song
  • •
    This morning Wargrave had sat huddled in his chair on the terrace refraining from any overt activity.  (source)
    refraining = avoiding
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    Then I talk back and start contradicting everyone until the old familiar Anne refrain inevitably crops up again: "No one understands me!"  (source)
    refrain = a phrase often repeated by someone
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    Then a Pole beside me began to sing, and I recognized the refrain: "Hey, hey, hey falcons, pass the mountains, forests, pits."  (source)
    refrain = lines repeated in a song
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    The song's title and refrain was, "This Is Not My Home."  (source)
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    Alex's constant refrain plays in my head: There are more of us than you think.  (source)
    refrain = something repeated regularly
  • •
    rhythmical chant of 'B-B! … B-B!' ... It was a refrain that was often heard in moments of overwhelming emotion.  (source)
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    "Orgy-porgy," the dancers caught up the liturgical refrain, "Orgy-porgy, Ford and fun, kiss the girls …"  (source)
    refrain = lines repeated in a song
  • •
    Sometimes, preoccupied with her work, she sang the refrain very low, very lingeringly; "A long time ago" came out like the saddest cadence of a funeral hymn.  (source)
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    ...which had the refrain: Ho, rumble, rumble, rumble, Rumble drum belaboured.  (source)
    refrain = lines repeated after each verse of a song
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refrain as in:  refrain from laughing

•
She wanted to argue, but refrained from speaking until she calmed down.
refrained = held back
Show 3 more with this contextual meaning
  • •
    You must refrain from personal attacks in this forum.
    refrain = hold back
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    I will refrain from commenting on this matter until I hear both sides of the story.
    refrain = resist or hold back
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    How do you refrain from laughing at the wrong time?
    refrain = hold back
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Show 10 more with 5 word variations
  • •
    She refrained from hitting him back.
    refrained = held back
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    Please refrain from swearing.
    refrain = avoid or resist
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    If the remainder of the school year were as fraught with drama as the first day, perhaps it would be mildly entertaining, but the prospect of spending nine months refraining from reading and writing made me think of running away.  (source)
    refraining = staying away
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    On the refrains her voice spun, twinning and mixing with my own.†  (source)
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    10:19 In the multitude of words there wanteth not sin: but he that refraineth his lips is wise.†  (source)
    standard suffix: Today, the suffix "-eth" is replaced by "-s", so that where they said "She refraineth" in older English, today we say "She refrains."
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    It's good I refrained from saying anything to the baker in Tarifa, thought the boy to himself.  (source)
    refrained = stopped myself
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    He was kind to Cypress, offering to run errands for her and refraining from his usual insulting manner.†  (source)
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    Would you please refrain from calling me man?  (source)
    refrain = resist
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    The mere cadence of the sentences, the subtle monotony of their music, so full as it was of complex refrains and movements elaborately repeated, produced in the mind of the lad, as he passed from chapter to chapter, a form of reverie, a malady of dreaming, that made him unconscious of the falling day and creeping shadows.†  (source)
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    She refrained. It wouldn't have felt right to steal food from a woman who had left her a dictionary against a windowpane.  (source)
    refrained = resisted
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