Requiem
//ˈɹɛ.kwi.əm// noun
noun ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A Mass (especially Catholic) to honor and remember a dead person.
- 2 A large or dangerous shark, specifically, (zoology) a member of the family Carcharhinidae.
"Any man-eater is called a requiem."
- 3 a Mass celebrated for the dead wordnet
- 4 A musical composition for such a mass.
- 5 a musical setting for a Mass celebrating the dead wordnet
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- 6 A piece of music composed to honor a dead person.
- 7 a song or hymn of mourning composed or performed as a memorial to a dead person wordnet
- 8 Rest; peace. obsolete
Example
More examples"Franz Xaver Süssmayr, an Austrian composer, is best known for having completed Mozart's unfinished Requiem in D minor."
Etymology
Etymology 1
From Middle English requiem, from Latin requiem, the first word of the introit for the traditional requiem mass, an alternative accusative case of Latin requiēs (“rest, repose”), from re- (“again”) + quiēs (“rest, quiet”).
Etymology 2
From French requin, altered by association with Etymology 1, above.
Related phrases
More for "requiem"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.