nocturne

noun noc·turne \ ˈnäk-ˌtərn \

Updated on: 17 Mar 2018

Definition of nocturne

: a work of art dealing with evening or night; especially : a dreamy pensive composition for the piano — compare aubade 3

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Recent Examples of nocturne from the Web

The James Reinish booth is blanketed with works by artists exhibited by Alfred Stieglitz, including his own photographs, a small, excellent, nearly abstract nocturne by Georgia O’Keeffe and a 1908 tribute to Cezanne’s bathers by Abraham Walkowitz.

— roberta smith, New York Times, "ADAA: A Fair to Remember Starts a Month of Art Show Madness," 1 Mar. 2018
Four arrangements of the fanfare are included on the album: the theme, prelude, nocturne and the full fanfare.

— milwaukee, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "Recordings of 'Fanfare for Lake Country' now available," 23 Jan. 2018
The back-to-back solos, each set to a Chopin nocturne and choreographed 30 years apart, serve as the choreographer’s memoir, a gaze at his whole career and signature movement aesthetic in less than 10 minutes.

— lauren warnecke, chicagotribune.com, "In rare performance, choreographer Doug Varone takes to stage along with his dancers at Columbia," 9 Feb. 2018
Varone makes a rare appearance to perform a retrospective of his career in two solos set to Chopin nocturnes.

— lauren warnecke, chicagotribune.com, "Baryshnikov dancing at the Harris? No, 'Brodsky' is something different," 30 Jan. 2018
Old First Concerts: Rosso Rose Duo Alisa Rose and Amy Zanrosso are joined by special guest pianist Ian Scarfe in a program of nocturnes by Copland, Cage, Medtner, Chopin, Ravel, Crumb, Ogerman, Rose, Szymanowski and Schnittke.

— chronicle staff report, San Francisco Chronicle, "Classical music and dance listings," 2 Nov. 2017
Wright's early portraits on one wall bear little resemblance to the dark blue nocturnes on another wall.

— susan dunne, courant.com, "Eclectic Work Of Greenwich Artist Dmitri Wright At Mattatuck," 25 Sep. 2017
Across the gallery from those nocturnes are impressionist en plein air landscapes, wildly colored like the fauvists, dominated by cotton-candy pink and canary yellow.

— susan dunne, courant.com, "Eclectic Work Of Greenwich Artist Dmitri Wright At Mattatuck," 25 Sep. 2017
Under this definition, a registrant could commit a felony by checking basketball scores on ESPN.com, looking up cold remedies on WebMD, posting a résumé on LinkedIn, or listening to Chopin nocturnes on Pandora.

— perry grossman, Slate Magazine, "First, They Came for the Sex Offenders …," 1 Mar. 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'nocturne.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of nocturne

borrowed from French, noun derivative of nocturne "of the night," going back to Middle French, borrowed from Latin nocturnus — more at nocturnal

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First Known Use: 1814

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NOCTURNE Defined for English Language Learners

nocturne

noun

Definition of nocturne for English Language Learners

: a piece of music especially for the piano that has a soft and somewhat sad melody

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See words that rhyme with nocturne Spanish Central: Translation of nocturne Nglish: Translation of nocturne for Spanish speakers Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about nocturne

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nocturne

Definition of nocturne

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nocturne

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