1. playing a short repeated phrase in popular music or jazz
Usage: music
2. speaking or performing in an improvised, spontaneous way
Usage: informal
3. elaborating on or developing a theme or idea creatively
Usage: informal

Examples

• The guitarist was riffing over the bass line.
• The comedian spent ten minutes riffing about airline food.
• She started riffing on the professor’s lecture topic.
• The band was just riffing during the sound check.
• He’s always riffing off other people’s ideas in meetings.
• The jazz musicians were riffing together beautifully.
• The talk show host was riffing about current events.