dirgelike

adjective

as in elegiac

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Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for dirgelike
  1. elegiac
  2. melancholy
  3. wailing
  4. lamentable
  5. aching
  6. sorrowful
  7. funeral
  8. doleful
Adjective
  • Harpman was writing in a different era, but the elegiac loneliness of her fiction anticipates our own solitary and screen-bound present.
    — Katy Waldman, New Yorker, 3 Aug. 2026
  • The novel thus proceeds in two registers, at once mysterious and elegiac.
    — Robert Rubsam, The Atlantic, 20 July 2026
Definition of elegiac
Adjective
  • Blending dry Finnish humour with melancholy and unexpected warmth, ATLANTIS PASILA turns its distinctly local setting into an intimate portrait of a generation searching for connection.
    — Jesse Whittock, Deadline, 11 Aug. 2026
  • Everything is infused with melancholy, the unfailing indicator of the fundamental rift between humans and their natural environment.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 11 Aug. 2026
Definition of melancholy
Adjective
  • Sitting opposite an old people’s home in a residential corner of Paris’ 14th arrondissement, La Santé’s unassuming presence is only given away by the occasional wailing siren as prisoners are transported to and from the site.
    — Joseph Ataman, CNN Money, 14 Oct. 2025
Definition of wailing
Adjective
  • The diminishing role of the federal government in addressing this crisis is lamentable.
    — Monitor Reader, Christian Science Monitor, 28 July 2026
  • Still furious at her mother, Natalie tentatively chooses to believe Cady but takes a gun along just in case, which turns out to be another lamentable decision.
    — Scott Tobias, Vulture, 10 July 2026
Definition of lamentable
Adjective
  • The homestretch of the drama, however, takes the story in a chilling direction, packing an aching quantity of feeling into a single glance at a security camera as someone climbs into a car and leaves the compound, never to be heard from again.
    — Leslie Felperin, HollywoodReporter, 26 May 2026
  • Charles Frazier, Cold Mountain (1997) Charles Frazier’s Cold Mountain is an aching, tender slow burn shaped by absence.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 3 Apr. 2026
Definition of aching
Adjective
  • Ulysses expresses sorrowful regret for having disobeyed Zeus’ Law – essentially the Golden Rule – in sacking Troy.
    — Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor, 16 July 2026
  • Much like their 1990s grunge and alt-rock contemporaries in America, Canada’s Our Lady Peace were writing and recording murky, sorrowful songs about youthful frustration and adult rage, love lost and societal alienation.
    — Garret K. Woodward, Rolling Stone, 28 June 2026
Definition of sorrowful
Adjective
  • Another loved one, Kelsi Yun, has organized a GoFundMe page to help cover funeral costs and support Reagan’s surviving family.
    — Sam Gillette, PEOPLE, 18 Aug. 2026
  • There is a funeral procession in the morning and a wedding in the afternoon.
    — Terry Gross, NPR, 14 Aug. 2026
Definition of funeral
Adjective
  • Langley’s voice, which is emotive but steady, seems unusually well suited to this sort of doleful yearning.
    — Amanda Petrusich, New Yorker, 16 Aug. 2026
  • Measles is the canary in the coal mine for vaccination and public health, and at this moment, the canary is singing a doleful tune.
    — Business Columnist, Los Angeles Times, 3 July 2026
Definition of doleful
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.

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dirgelike
dirges
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Cite this Entry

“Dirgelike.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/dirgelike. Accessed 27 Aug. 2026.

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