tetralogy

[ te-tral-uh-jee, -trah-luh- ]
See synonyms for tetralogy on Thesaurus.com
noun,plural te·tral·o·gies.
  1. a series of four related dramas, operas, novels, etc.

  2. a group of four dramas, three tragedies and one satyr play, performed consecutively at the festival of Dionysus in ancient Athens.

Origin of tetralogy

1
From the Greek word tetralogía, dating back to 1650–60. See tetra-, -logy

Words Nearby tetralogy

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use tetralogy in a sentence

  • It only affected what I chose to write afterwards in terms of the other three books in the Lonesome Dove tetralogy.

    Larry McMurtry: How I Write | Noah Charney | April 24, 2013 | THE DAILY BEAST
  • This series may be divided into two, each forming a tetralogy, or group of four plays.

    From Chaucer to Tennyson | Henry A. Beers
  • For those who have sensitive feelings the fourth day of the tetralogy has a depressing effect.

    Musicians of To-Day | Romain Rolland
  • The drama itself comes second in the tetralogy of the Ring, being preceded by the Rheingold.

    The Valkyries | Edward Frederic Benson
  • But this latter is more properly to be considered as the overture to a trilogy than as the first drama of a tetralogy.

    The Valkyries | Edward Frederic Benson
  • "Richard III" is the fourth play of a tetralogy manifestly planned before the earlier members were completed.

    Tragedy | Ashley H. Thorndike

British Dictionary definitions for tetralogy

tetralogy

/ (tɛˈtrælədʒɪ) /


nounplural -gies
  1. a series of four related works, as in drama or opera

  2. (in ancient Greece) a group of four dramas, the first three tragic and the last satiric

  1. pathol a group of four symptoms present in one disorder, esp Fallot's tetralogy

Origin of tetralogy

1
C17: from Greek tetralogia; see tetra-, -logy

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012