variants
also elegiacal
as in somber
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
Los Angeles Times, 4 Mar. 2026
Shot in black-and-white, the resulting photos have an elegiac quality and suggest the eventual mortality of any innovation or craze—ashes to ashes, rack-and-pinion steering to rack-and-pinion steering.
—Lauren Collins, New Yorker, 3 Mar. 2026
Naomi Fry, New Yorker, 21 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for elegiac
Adjective
In this longer and more structured form, what began as an intentional scattering of ashes becomes an elegiac letter home mediated by shipwreck.
—Los Angeles Times, 4 Mar. 2026
Shot in black-and-white, the resulting photos have an elegiac quality and suggest the eventual mortality of any innovation or craze—ashes to ashes, rack-and-pinion steering to rack-and-pinion steering.
—Lauren Collins, New Yorker, 3 Mar. 2026
Noun
There’s also something a little elegiac about it.
—Naomi Fry, New Yorker, 21 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for elegiac
Recent Examples of Synonyms for elegiac
Adjective
-
The Atlanta Braves are back home Tuesday night for their game against the Chicago Cubs, but there will be a somber energy as fans fill seats in Truist Park.—
Irene Wright,
USA Today,
12 May 2026
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Despite the somber mood, some trustees were not convinced that their fate was sealed.—
Jennah Pendleton,
Sacbee.com,
8 May 2026
Adjective
-
In other words, the status quo of ed tech is bleak.—
Will Oremus,
The Atlantic,
16 May 2026
-
Like its gruesome predecessors, his latest full-length work features adorably designed anthropomorphic animals (and mushrooms) navigating bleak realities and confronting existentialist concerns.—
Carlos Aguilar,
Variety,
15 May 2026
Noun
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To say an elegy by heart/to zero our dying before birth.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
1 Apr. 2026
-
The show, a sort of elegy for Gen X, opens with a flash-forward to July 16, 1999, the final hours of Carolyn and John.—
Doreen St. Félix,
New Yorker,
14 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
The annual solemn ceremony was a kickoff to Patriot Week.—
Paul Burton,
CBS News,
16 May 2026
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Despite the crowds, the rousing music, and the excitement, Washington’s departure was a solemn affair, freighted by the stunning fact that the American colonies were now truly at war with the British Empire.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
13 May 2026
Noun
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Still, the advisory taps into growing anxiety around kids’ screen time.—
Claire Cameron,
Scientific American,
20 May 2026
-
The program includes taps, raising of the flag, the national anthem, prayers, reading of names of past veterans.—
Linda Mcintosh,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
19 May 2026
Adjective
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Even more depressing, this scenario essentially puts an end to the good-government experiment in nonpartisan redistricting reform.—
Steven Greenhut,
Oc Register,
15 May 2026
-
Such widespread outsourcing of thought and memory is deeply depressing to many educators.—
Nate Anderson,
ArsTechnica,
13 May 2026
Noun
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This offers respite from the music ever feeling too dirge-like.—
Brendan Hay,
SPIN,
1 May 2026
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The pioneering alt-country band returns with its first album in 30 years—a set of cryptic, languid dirges that feels defiantly out-of-time.—
Zach Schonfeld,
Pitchfork,
17 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
Baha Mar is large in stature, sure—and Rosewood is part of a three-hotel complex across the bay from Atlantis, which looms large and brooding over its own end of the water as everything Baha Mar does not want to be—dated, dark, and reminiscent of Spring Break Past.—
Condé Nast,
Condé Nast Traveler,
20 May 2026
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Also fascinating were their contrasting likenesses, dark against light housed in the same being, a human eclipse.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
20 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Elegiac.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/elegiac. Accessed 21 May. 2026.
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