segue

Borrowed from Italian segue (“it follows”),^[1] 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.

• IPA^(key): /ˈsɛɡweɪ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛɡweɪ
• Homophone: Segway

segue (third-person singular simple present segues, present participle segueing, simple past and past participle segued)

1. To move smoothly from one state or subject to another.

   Synonym: transition

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

2. (music) To make a smooth transition from one theme to another.

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

3. (of a disc jockey) To play a sequence of records with no talk between them.

In sense “move from one subject to another”, contrast with non sequitur (“abrupt transition”), which is etymologically opposite (“follow” vs. “does not follow”). However, segue has connotations of moving between distinct subjects, and thus to segue often means to change rather abruptly, with at best a pretense of smooth transition.

segue (plural segues)

1. An instance of segueing, a transition.

• segué

segue

1. inflection of segar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative
2. third-person singular present indicative of seguir
3. (reintegrationist norm) inflection of seguir:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

• IPA^(key): /ˈse.ɡwe/, /ˈsɛ.ɡwe/^[1]
• Rhymes: -eɡwe, -ɛɡwe
• Hyphenation: sé‧gue, sè‧gue

segue

1. third-person singular present indicative of seguire

• Homophone: cegue
• Hyphenation: se‧gue

segue

1. inflection of seguir:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative
2. inflection of segar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative