villanelle

noun

Definition of villanellenext
as in sonnet

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Example Sentences

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.
Recent Examples of villanelle Not unlike the rules of the villanelle, which are here applied with less than perfect rigor. — New York Times, 28 May 2026 From the sixteenth to the nineteenth century, villanelle was simply the French term for an Italian country song, and during the Renaissance, poets often used the title for their work regardless of a poem’s specific structure. — The Editors, JSTOR Daily, 19 Aug. 2025 Elongated and paved with bricks, the path is a closed form, a kind of physical villanelle that thwarts the experience of continuity or the feeling of finitude. — Hamilton Cain, BostonGlobe.com, 2 Mar. 2023 Susan Kinsolving’s villanelle obsessively circles the same two rhymes, keeping pace with the anxiety of a mind trying to cope. — Clare Bucknell, The New Yorker, 22 Dec. 2020 Her own verse often drew on classical forms such as the villanelle, sestina, tritina and sonnet, and sometimes incorporated references to ancient mythology and medieval legend. — Harrison Smith, Washington Post, 8 July 2019 But then, rarely does an individual strip contain a complete and proper villanelle about food. — Wired Blogs, WIRED, 22 Sep. 2006
Recent Examples of Synonyms for villanelle
  1. sonnet
  2. poem
  3. limerick
  4. epigram
  5. elegy
  6. psalm
  7. ode
  8. madrigal
Noun
  • The conventions ground the writing as meter and rhyme steady a sonnet.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 13 July 2026
  • Tech was even still cool in late 2022 when OpenAI released ChatGPT and everyone started giddily re-doing Taylor Swift lyrics as Shakespearean sonnets.
    — Steven Zeitchik, HollywoodReporter, 25 June 2026
Definition of sonnet
Noun
  • Adapted from Blake’s poem into song by Hubert Parry, ‘Jerusalem’ may be slower-paced than ‘God Save The King’ but its fluctuations in pace and tone at least give it some momentum.
    — George Edwards, New York Times, 31 July 2026
  • My perspectives on the poem have been informed and shaped by the work of many brilliant colleagues and predecessors, including those in this volume and many more.
    — Emma Specter, Vogue, 31 July 2026
Definition of poem
Noun
  • The study picked 10 commercial large language models by top tech companies — including Meta, Anthropic and OpenAI — and asked the AI systems to make critical pamphlets, write limericks, give reasons if someone should join protests, and more.
    — Didi Tang, Fortune, 16 July 2026
  • He was also known for his haikus and limericks, including some written to summarize ethics.
    — Elliott Wenzler, Denver Post, 2 Apr. 2026
Definition of limerick
Noun
  • By greatly expanding the dimensions of his images, with their muted palettes, tight cropping, found symmetries, and laconic wit, had the maestro of the photographic epigram betrayed his subtractive aesthetic?
    — James Quandt, Artforum, 2 June 2026
  • Johnson is the author of the epigrams, but Boswell is very much the co-author.
    — David Frum, The Atlantic, 27 May 2026
Definition of epigram
Noun
  • But that selflessness comes to feel like the point of this lingering, resonantly sad film — above all else, an elegy for lives unseen and unknown.
    — Guy Lodge, Variety, 23 July 2026
  • What begins as a novel ostensibly about ‘cancel culture’ quickly shifts into a rueful elegy for a dying world.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 23 July 2026
Definition of elegy
Noun
  • Take The Music Lesson, a study of a young woman playing the virginal, closely watched by a gentleman, which Graham-Dixon reads as a depiction of Collegiants chastely performing and singing psalms.
    — Clare Bucknell, Harpers Magazine, 23 June 2026
  • Over the course of Gregory Orr’s long career, his poems have become increasingly incantatory, more and more like chants or psalms, repeating, reformulating, reaching for the edges of the same rich metaphors.
    — Craig Morgan Teicher, Literary Hub, 1 June 2026
Definition of psalm
Noun
  • The song, out now via OddAtelier/Columbia Records, is her ode to summer, centering on a relationship that exists somewhere between friendship and romance.
    — Emily Zemler, Rolling Stone, 24 July 2026
  • The film, which debuts on Apple TV on July 24, serves as a sweet ode to this burgeoning pastime, while still poking fun at its foibles.
    — Sean Gregory, Time, 23 July 2026
Definition of ode
Noun
  • The concert will include Renaissance madrigals—one English and one French.
    — Myrna Petlicki, Chicago Tribune, 2 Mar. 2026
  • This is a lovely fundraiser to assist in the preservation of the cemetery, and the day is filled with master gardeners offering advice, madrigals singing, an archaeology talk, refreshments, kids’ activities and lots of lovely spring plants for sale.
    — Janet Kusterer, Baltimore Sun, 25 Mar. 2025
Definition of madrigal

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villanelle
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Cite this Entry

“Villanelle.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/villanelle. Accessed 2 Aug. 2026.

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More from Merriam-Webster on villanelle

Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about villanelle

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