elegiac

[ el-i-jahy-uhk, -ak, ih-lee-jee-ak ]

adjective

1. used in, suitable for, or resembling an elegy.
2. expressing sorrow or lamentation:

   elegiac strains.

3. Classical Prosody. noting a distich or couplet the first line of which is a dactylic hexameter and the second a pentameter, or a verse differing from the hexameter by suppression of the arsis or metrically unaccented part of the third and the sixth foot.

noun

1. an elegiac or distich verse.
2. a poem in such distichs or verses.

elegiac

/ ˌɛlɪˈdʒaɪək /

adjective

1. resembling, characteristic of, relating to, or appropriate to an elegy
2. lamenting; mournful; plaintive
3. denoting or written in elegiac couplets or elegiac stanzas

noun

1. often plural an elegiac couplet or stanza

Derived Forms

• ˌeleˈgiacally, adverb

Other Words From

• ele·gia·cal·ly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of elegiac¹

First recorded in 1575–85; from Middle French, from Latin elegīacus, from Greek elegeiakós; equivalent to elegy + -ac

Example Sentences

Lourdes Portillo’s elegiac “Senorita Extraviada” documents with low-key persistence the conditions in Ciudad Juarez that make some say, “There is no better place in the world to kill a young woman.”

From Los Angeles Times

It’s an elegiac relationship, compounded by the recent passing of my grandmother, who embodied holiness and unadulterated love in every sense.

From Salon

While his early novels paid fealty to the expansive, twisty prose of Faulkner and the unsettling Southern gothic of O’Connor, his poetry and later novels moved toward the elegiac sentiments and literary precision of Welty.

From New York Times

But that was not the only reason that there was an elegiac theme to Monday night.

From New York Times

Filling the back wall of the stage is a screen for the film artist Bill Morrison’s trademark, haunting manipulations of scratchy, blurry archival footage, its ghostliness echoed by the choir’s floating, elegiac sound.

From New York Times

Related Words

• funereal
• melancholy
• mournful
• sad
• sorrowful