elegy
a mournful, melancholy, or plaintive poem, especially a funeral song or a lament for the dead.
a poem written in elegiac meter.
a sad or mournful musical composition.
Origin of elegy
1Words that may be confused with elegy
- elegy , eulogy
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use elegy in a sentence
Seen beside the two luminescent elegies, the rest of the essays in the collection appear in long shadows.
Roughing It With Jonathan Franzen’s ‘Farther Away’ | Chris Wallace | April 28, 2012 | THE DAILY BEASTThe elegies upon his death were numerous, as well as those in praise of the regiment itself.
Studies in Folk-Song and Popular Poetry | Alfred M. WilliamsThe Elegies have never before been published as here, together in the cyclical form of their original conception.
Erotica Romana | Johann Wolfgang GoetheModern editors of what they call the "Roman Elegies" bring abundant annotation, and often detail Goethe's own emendations.
Erotica Romana | Johann Wolfgang GoetheIt is no mournful solemnity, with dirges and elegies for one about to die; but a Feast—a strange way of celebrating a death.
Expositor's Bible: The Gospel of Matthew | John Monro Gibson
Immediately following the Queens death, there were published a whole host of monodies, elegies, and ballads in her praise.
The History of the Catnach Press | Charles Hindley
British Dictionary definitions for elegy
/ (ˈɛlɪdʒɪ) /
a mournful or plaintive poem or song, esp a lament for the dead
poetry or a poem written in elegiac couplets or stanzas
Origin of elegy
1confusable For elegy
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
Cultural definitions for elegy
[ (el-uh-jee) ]
A form of poetry that mourns the loss of someone who has died or something that has deteriorated. A notable example is the “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard,” by Thomas Gray. (Compare eulogy.)
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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