Segue

//ˈsɛɡweɪ// noun, verb

noun, verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    An instance of segueing, a transition.
  2. 2
    the act of changing smoothly from one state or situation to another wordnet
Verb
  1. 1
    To move smoothly from one state or subject to another.

    "I can tell she’s going to segue from our conversation about school to the topic of marriage."

  2. 2
    proceed without interruption; in music or talk wordnet
  3. 3
    To make a smooth transition from one theme to another.

    "Beethoven’s symphonies effortlessly segue from one theme to the next."

  4. 4
    To play a sequence of records with no talk between them.

Example

More examples

"The minister, embarrassed by the finding, made a segue and changed the subject."

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian segue (“it follows”), from seguire (“to follow”), from Latin sequor; originally a term used in a musical score to indicate that the next movement or passage is to follow without a break. Cognate with Spanish seguir. Doublet of sue. Related to suit and sequence.

Related phrases

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.