dirge

[ durj ]

noun

1. a funeral song or tune, or one expressing mourning in commemoration of the dead.
2. any composition resembling such a song or tune in character, as a poem of lament for the dead or solemn, mournful music:

   Tennyson's dirge for the Duke of Wellington.

3. a mournful sound resembling a dirge:

   The autumn wind sang the dirge of summer.

4. Ecclesiastical. the office of the dead, or the funeral service as sung.

dirge

/ dɜːdʒ /

noun

1. a chant of lamentation for the dead
2. the funeral service in its solemn or sung forms
3. any mourning song or melody

Derived Forms

• ˈdirgeful, adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of dirge¹

1175–1225; Middle English dir ( i ) ge < Latin: direct, syncopated variant of dīrige (imperative of dīrigere ), first word of the antiphon sung in the Latin office of the dead (Psalm V, 8)

Word History and Origins

Origin of dirge¹

C13: changed from Latin dīrigē direct (imperative), opening word of the Latin antiphon used in the office of the dead

Example Sentences

A psychedelic dirge but also a love song, “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida” captured a 1960s spirit of yin-yang duality — much like the band’s name itself.

From New York Times

But after he warns, “Don’t tell no lie about me/And I won’t tell truths about you,” the track changes to a tolling, droning trap dirge and Lamar’s delivery becomes biting, nasal and percussive.

From New York Times

As the score howls with chant-like dirges, blood, sweat and out-of-bounds fears grip the hapless heroine while spooky, shrouded nuns engage in satanic rituals that place her in very dire circumstances.

From Seattle Times

The piece begins as a slow dirge, then accelerates into a kind of battle charge — the episode climaxes in a call to war for the latent rebels in Ferrix.

From Los Angeles Times

But in that exhausted frenzy the young man finally started to write — and ended up with the landmark modernist poem “Easter in New York,” a citywide dirge of darkly beautiful alexandrines.

From New York Times

Related Words

• elegy
• hymn