variants
also elegiacal
as in depressing
causing or marked by an atmosphere lacking in cheer
the sight of an old ruined church or castle can be a pleasantly elegiac experience
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of elegiac
Colin Fleming, New York Daily News, 14 Feb. 2025
Considering recent, breakneck attempts to gut civil rights, director Brittany Shyne’s debut feature — which won the U.S. documentary prize at the Sundance Film Festival — feels elegiac.
—Lisa Kennedy, Variety, 1 Feb. 2025
The Substance’s conclusion is anything but elegiac, however.
—Shirley Li, The Atlantic, 8 Jan. 2025
But as Tanaka’s melodramatic and elegiac film shows us, beauty often comes from the most unexpected places.
—Barry Levitt, Vulture, 4 Apr. 2024
See All Example Sentences for elegiac
Adjective
Out went the names, and in came a sweeping, elegiac — but life-fostering — quality that operates as a sonic treatise on the nature of love itself.
—Colin Fleming, New York Daily News, 14 Feb. 2025
Considering recent, breakneck attempts to gut civil rights, director Brittany Shyne’s debut feature — which won the U.S. documentary prize at the Sundance Film Festival — feels elegiac.
—Lisa Kennedy, Variety, 1 Feb. 2025
The Substance’s conclusion is anything but elegiac, however.
—Shirley Li, The Atlantic, 8 Jan. 2025
But as Tanaka’s melodramatic and elegiac film shows us, beauty often comes from the most unexpected places.
—Barry Levitt, Vulture, 4 Apr. 2024
See All Example Sentences for elegiac
Recent Examples of Synonyms for elegiac
Adjective
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They are already relegated to the Championship with five games to play and could break club records after a desperately depressing campaign.—
Rob Tanner,
New York Times,
28 Apr. 2025
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Editor’s picks An hour of episodic television is usually breech-birthed in a depressing Hollywood conference room filled with dyspeptic writers arguing over lines as the space fills up with the smell of fear, body odor, and Asian fusion takeout.—
Stephen Rodrick,
Rolling Stone,
9 Mar. 2025
Adjective
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More precisely, there was a 60 percent reduction in depressive symptoms, with more than half of the participants exhibiting total remission.—
John Semley,
Rolling Stone,
19 Apr. 2025
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Alongside other treatments, inositol supplements may help with depressive symptoms in bipolar disorder.—
Mark Gurarie,
Verywell Health,
18 Apr. 2025
Noun
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The title is borrowed from Elizabeth Alexander’s fourth collection persona poems, historical narratives, jazz riffs, sonnets, elegies, and a sequence of ars poetica which examines the Black experience through the lens of the slave rebellion on the Amistad and nineteenth-century American art.—
Natasha Gural,
Forbes.com,
4 Apr. 2025
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Eephus is an elegy, but with just the barest hint of sentimentality—a shrugging send-off that simultaneously cares deeply about America’s pastime.—
David Sims,
The Atlantic,
14 Mar. 2025
Adjective
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Karsh believes his morbid invention will allow people to maintain a meaningful relationship with the bodies of their life partners, even in death.—
David Ehrlich,
IndieWire,
18 Apr. 2025
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How To Solve Today’s Wordle The Hint: A morbid tune.—
Erik Kain,
Forbes.com,
18 Apr. 2025
Noun
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This eatery at the summit of Cannon’s tramway offers cafeteria food, grab-and-go options, and, most notably, the highest-elevation beer taps in the state of New Hampshire.—
Sarah Cahalan,
Travel + Leisure,
23 Dec. 2024
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This lack of resolution taps into the brain’s natural drive for cognitive closure, which according to 2014 study, is the innate desire to resolve ambiguity and make sense of unfinished experiences.—
Mark Travers,
Forbes,
23 Dec. 2024
Adjective
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The former president was seen taking a photo with another mourner; his wife, like first lady Melania Trump — in attendance with President Trump — wore a funereal veil.—
Adam Carlson,
People.com,
26 Apr. 2025
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The cover art — Elton in a funereal formal suit, posed on the Long Walk leading to Windsor Castle — was a not particularly subtle sign that unlike in the manic decade before, Elton was now making more of his own choices.—
Shana Naomi Krochmal,
Vulture,
4 Apr. 2025
Noun
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Over time, dirge came to mean a funeral song or lament.—
Erik Kain,
Forbes.com,
18 Apr. 2025
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Returnal Returnal was one of the first exclusives of the PS5 generation; a fabulously grotesque sci-fi horror dirge, and still worth your attention today.—
Luke Winkie,
Vulture,
1 Apr. 2025
Adjective
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And then obviously in between that, either dropping my kid off at school or picking my kid up or hanging out, going to the park or something like that in some of those gaps, but that’s a very happy day, very chill, humbling day (Laughs).—
Carly Thomas,
HollywoodReporter,
4 Apr. 2025
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People are going to be very chill and normal, like the internet always is.—
Kathleen Newman-Bremang,
refinery29.com,
10 Mar. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Elegiac.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/elegiac. Accessed 5 May. 2025.
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