I. re ‧ peat 1 S2 W2 /rɪˈpiːt/ BrE AmE verb [transitive]
[ Word Family: adjective : ↑ repeated , ↑ repetitive , ↑ repetitious , ↑ repeatable ≠ ↑ unrepeatable ; noun : ↑ repeat , ↑ repetition ; adverb : ↑ repeatedly , ↑ repetitively ; verb : ↑ repeat ]
[ Date: 1300-1400 ; Language: Old French ; Origin: repeter , from Latin repetere , from petere 'to go to, try to find' ]
1 . SAY AGAIN to say or write something again:
Can you repeat your question?
Sorry – could you repeat that?
repeat that
Nick patiently repeated that he had to work that day.
It is not, I repeat not, my fault.
‘I promise,’ she repeated.
repeat yourself (=say something that you have said before, usually by mistake)
Elderly people tend to repeat themselves.
2 . DO AGAIN to do something again:
Repeat the exercises twice a day.
We must not repeat the mistakes of the past.
repeat a class/grade/year (=do the same class at school again the following year)
The team are hoping to repeat their success (=achieve the same good result) of last season.
3 . LEARN to say something that someone else has just said, especially in order to learn it
repeat (something) after somebody
Repeat after me: amo, amas, amat ...
4 . TELL to tell someone something that you have heard, especially something secret:
Here’s what happened, but don’t repeat it.
5 . BROADCAST to broadcast a television or radio programme again:
The series will be repeated in the autumn.
6 . something doesn’t bear repeating used to say that you do not want to repeat what someone has said, especially because it is rude:
Her comments don’t bear repeating!
⇨ history repeats itself at ↑ history (8)
repeat on somebody phrasal verb British English
if food repeats on you, its taste keeps coming back into your mouth after you have eaten it
II. repeat 2 BrE AmE noun [countable]
[ Word Family: adjective : ↑ repeated , ↑ repetitive , ↑ repetitious , ↑ repeatable ≠ ↑ unrepeatable ; noun : ↑ repeat , ↑ repetition ; adverb : ↑ repeatedly , ↑ repetitively ; verb : ↑ repeat ]
1 . [usually singular] an event that is very like something that happened before
repeat of
The match was basically a repeat of last year’s game at Wembley.
It was a terrible journey – I hope we don’t have a repeat performance (=have the same thing happen again) on the way home.
2 . a television or radio programme that has been broadcast before:
‘Is it a repeat?’ ‘No, it’s a new series.’
3 . repeat order/prescription British English an order of goods or a ↑ prescription of medicine that is the same as one you had before
4 . technical the sign that tells a performer to play a piece of music again, or the music that is played again