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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
  • There is romance and melancholy, playfulness and despair, all happening at once.
    — PhotoVogue, Vogue, 17 Sep. 2026
  • That O’Flynn’s newfound fame has coincided with her starring role in this gentle, melancholy wonder of a movie is a fitting, if unplanned, convergence.
    — Alison Willmore, Vulture, 11 Sep. 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
  • Elsewhere around the town square, feelings range from cautious to noncommittal, from sorrowful to suspicious.
    — Eric Adler, Kansas City Star, 22 Sep. 2026
  • Cynically or not, Chin and Vasarhelyi understand that these primal thrills are enough to distract us from the frustrating and sorrowful truth at the center of the story.
    — Richard Lawson, HollywoodReporter, 3 Sep. 2026
Definition of sorrowful
Adjective
  • To Diana, who has taken over First Desk at the Park after last season’s events, River’s refusal to take bereavement leave gives her license to speak about his grandfather’s funeral arrangements with her usual cool formality.
    — Scott Tobias, Vulture, 16 Sep. 2026
  • According to the organizer of a fundraiser set up to cover funeral costs and medical expenses, the girl's aunt suffered a broken neck, skull fracture, and dislocated discs.
    — Joan Murray, CBS News, 14 Sep. 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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dirge
dirgelike
dirges
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Cite this Entry

“Dirgelike.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/dirgelike. Accessed 25 Sep. 2026.

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