as in lament
a composition expressing one's grief over a loss the composer's cello concerto was composed as a moving threnody for his late wife

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of threnody His diary shrank to a litany of suffering and a threnody for what might have been. Sara Wheeler, WSJ, 25 Oct. 2018 Most critics acknowledged the score’s beautiful moments, especially Cleopatra’s death scene, in which the character’s plaintive lyrical lines are capped by a chilling choral threnody. Anthony Tommasini, New York Times, 22 Dec. 2017 Needless to say, Murray’s threnody for Europe is as fundamentally incoherent as its late-19th-century originals. Pankaj Mishra, New York Times, 14 Sep. 2017 Threnody in X (FTF), Soda Pop (FTF), Corn Hives (FTF), Facts (FTF), Sophie Brown, WIRED, 9 Aug. 2011
Recent Examples of Synonyms for threnody
Noun
  • Dicey intonation in the final chorus and Mandane’s second-act aria aside, the group’s unity and expression was impressive, from exactly seesawing strings to Brandon Acker’s bleak, mournful lute under Artaserse’s first-act lament.
    Hannah Edgar, Chicago Tribune, 28 June 2025
  • But now, to the lament of many people, Grinder’s Keepers in Bristol is closing for good on June.
    Staff report, Hartford Courant, 28 June 2025
Noun
  • Vo’s ongoing examination of empire and identity unfolds here as both monument and elegy.
    Nel-Olivia Waga, Forbes.com, 17 June 2025
  • What if Durham’s vision for the sequel could be turned inside out, undergoing a transformation like The Greatest from retrospective to comeback, elegy to unfinished story.
    Melina Moe May 19, Literary Hub, 19 May 2025
Noun
  • After learning of the loss of the iron ore freighter Edmund Fitzgerald on Lake Superior and the deaths of all 29 crew members from Newsweek, Gord lifted passages from the article and put them to a dreamy dirge: The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.
    Ryan Craig, Forbes.com, 13 June 2025
  • Though it was written around the time of Malibu’s Woolsey fire, the 14-minute long dirge that encompasses flames in Malibu and a cougar that roams the hills took on a new and sinister meaning in the aftermath of the more recent fires.
    Chris Willman, Variety, 19 May 2025
Noun
  • Like many of the 27 tracks on her Grammy-winning album of the year, her Cowboy Carter and Rodeo Chitlin’ Circuit Tour is a requiem to Black artists who have helped shape country music and a reclamation of Americana for those who have been shut out.
    Megan Thomas, CNN Money, 27 June 2025
  • Column Plug Two Rollie Pemberton A requiem for Trugoy and a rebirth for De La Soul. Column Unwritten Recipes Chantal Braganza Anyone who’s lived long enough to learn to feed themselves likely has some kind of biographical dish.
    Max Ufberg, hazlitt.net, 4 Jan. 2025

Browse Nearby Words

Podcast

Cite this Entry

“Threnody.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/threnody. Accessed 12 Jul. 2025.

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!