Dictionary
elegiac
adjective ele·gi·ac \ˌe-lə-ˈjī-ək, -ˌak also i-ˈlē-jē-ˌak\
Definition of ELEGIAC
1
a : of, relating to, or consisting of two dactylic hexameter lines the second of which lacks the arsis in the third and sixth feet b (1) : written in or consisting of elegiac couplets (2) : noted for having written poetry in such couplets c : of or relating to the period in Greece about the seventh century b.c. when poetry written in such couplets flourished
2
: of, relating to, or comprising elegy or an elegy; especially : expressing sorrow often for something now past <an elegiac lament for departed youth>
— elegiac noun
— el·e·gi·a·cal·ly \ˌe-lə-ˈjī-ə-k(ə-)lē\ adverb
Variants of ELEGIAC
ele·gi·ac also el·e·gi·a·cal \ˌe-lə-ˈjī-ə-kəl\
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Origin of ELEGIAC
Late Latin elegiacus, from Greek elegeiakos, from elegeion
First Known Use: 1542
Related to ELEGIAC
- Synonyms
- black, bleak, cheerless, chill, Cimmerian, cloudy, cold, comfortless, dark, darkening, depressing, depressive, desolate, dire, disconsolate, dismal, drear, dreary, dreich [chiefly Scottish], gloomy (also elegiacal), forlorn, funereal, glum, godforsaken, gray (also grey), lonely, lonesome, lugubrious, miserable, morbid, morose, murky, plutonian, saturnine, sepulchral, solemn, somber (or sombre), sullen, sunless, tenebrific, tenebrous, wretched
Other Literature Terms
Rhymes with ELEGIAC
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