Elegy
//ˈɛlɪd͡ʒi// noun
noun ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A mournful or plaintive poem; a funeral song; a poem of lamentation.
"funeral elegy"
- 2 a mournful poem; a lament for the dead wordnet
- 3 A composition of mournful character.
- 4 A classical poem written in elegiac meter
Example
More examples"He composed an elegy for his late friend."
Etymology
From Middle French elegie, from Latin elegīa, itself a borrowing from Ancient Greek ἐλεγείᾱ (elegeíā), ellipsis of ἐλεγείᾱ ᾠδή (elegeíā ōidḗ, “an elegiac song”).
More for "elegy"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.