as in lament
a composition expressing one's grief over a loss "O Captain! My Captain!" is Walt Whitman's elegy on the death of President Lincoln

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Examples Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of elegy Working with longtime collaborators John Collins and Nicolas Bragg, the funk-rock elegies and New Romantic jaunts turn brittle and deliberate. Pitchfork, 1 Oct. 2024 And then on March 29, Swift published an elegy for Partridge. Jesse David Fox, Vulture, 1 Apr. 2024 Schmuhl’s chapter on Churchill’s experience as President Dwight Eisenhower’s guest, starting in 1953, reads like an elegy, since the jet age was emerging, and quicker diplomatic trips became the standard. Danny Heitman, The Christian Science Monitor, 25 July 2024 Shades of Thornton Wilder and John Steinbeck flicker in this elegy to the down and out, the dreamers and the sinners who lose everything, even their sense of themselves. Karen D'souza, The Mercury News, 3 Aug. 2024 See all Example Sentences for elegy 
Recent Examples of Synonyms for elegy
Noun
  • But these laments seemed to reach a crescendo during the Biden administration, which was seen as too focused on the United States’ growing rivalry with Beijing and the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East to devote even minimal bandwidth to its southern neighbors.
    Brian Winter, Foreign Affairs, 10 Dec. 2024
  • Opponents lament diverting taxpayer funding from public schools to private ones and point to examples of misuse of funds, like buying dune buggies.
    Stacey Barchenger, The Arizona Republic, 2 Dec. 2024
Noun
  • The hand drums, played here by Keith, make this one spooky dirge.
    Angie Martoccio, Rolling Stone, 19 July 2024
  • Following long minutes of silence, a dirge of bagpipes began streaming from the church, suddenly growing loud as 10 pipers emerged with a corps of drummers behind, playing on as pallbearers rolled the casket out.
    Bill Laytner, Detroit Free Press, 28 June 2024
Noun
  • No dolphin will ever perform an autopsy, no dingo will read Heidegger, no macaque will write a requiem for piano and violin.
    Kathryn Schulz, The New Yorker, 28 Oct. 2024
  • The Last Showgirl is a requiem for any woman who has ever been underestimated because of her beauty, her choices, or her art (so, essentially, every woman ever to exist).
    Maureen Lee Lenker, EW.com, 7 Sep. 2024

Thesaurus Entries Near elegy

Cite this Entry

“Elegy.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/elegy. Accessed 30 Dec. 2024.

More from Merriam-Webster on elegy

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!