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Elegy vs. Eulogy
Both elegy and eulogy may be used about writing or speech in remembrance of a person who has passed away, and this semantic overlap creates the potential for confusion. Elegy (which may be traced to the Greek word elegos, “song of mourning”) commonly refers to a song or poem lamenting one who is dead; the word may also refer somewhat figuratively to a nostalgic poem, or to a kind of musical composition. While eulogy is also commonly found referring to words about the deceased, its basic meaning, both in English and in the Greek language from which it was borrowed, is “praise.” Formed from the Greek roots eu “good” and logos “speech,” a eulogy is an encomium given for one who is either living or dead. If you are praising your partner’s unsurpassed beauty or commending the virtues of the deceased at a funeral, you are delivering a eulogy; if you are composing a lamenting reminiscence about a person who has long since passed, you are writing an elegy.
Examples of elegy in a Sentence
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
Bulgakov’s novel The White Guard, published in 1925 and set at the same time, is an elegy for Tsarist Kyiv that detests both Ukrainian national aspirations and Bolshevik rule.
—Uilleam Blacker, The Atlantic, 4 June 2025
And then on March 29, Swift published an elegy for Partridge.
—Jesse David Fox, Vulture, 1 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for elegy
Cite this Entry
“Elegy.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/elegy. Accessed 14 Jul. 2025.
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elegy
noun
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