swan song
noun
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Swans don't sing. They whistle or trumpet, or in the case of the swan most common in ponds, the mute swan, they only hiss and snort. But according to ancient legend, the swan does sing one beautiful song in its life-just before it dies. References in English to the dying swan's lovely singing go back as far as Chaucer, but the term swan song itself didn't appear in the language until the 1830s, when Thomas Carlyle used it in Sartor Resartus. Carlyle probably based his "swan song" on the German version of the term, which is Schwanengesang or Schwanenlied.
Examples of swan song in a Sentence
Justice Delos Santos, Mercury News, 20 Sep. 2025
Keep in mind, though, that this is not necessarily a swan song.
—Nicholas Quah, Vulture, 15 Sep. 2025
With the show canceled, Colbert’s emotional win played like a farewell tour stop, one almost certain to be repeated in next year’s swan song.
—Clayton Davis, Variety, 15 Sep. 2025
Premiering 12 years after the film that started it all, The Conjuring: Last Rites serves as a swan song for the franchise's core pair, Ed and Lorraine Warren, played by Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga.
—Randall Colburn, Entertainment Weekly, 6 Sep. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Swan song.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/swan%20song. Accessed 1 Oct. 2025.
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