Dies Irae

American  

[dee-eys eer-ey] / ˈdi eɪs ˈɪər eɪ /

noun

1. a Latin hymn on the Day of Judgment, commonly sung in a Requiem Mass.

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Dies Irae British  

/ ˈdiːeɪz ˈɪəraɪ /

noun

1. Christianity a famous Latin hymn of the 13th century, describing the Last Judgment. It is used in the Mass for the dead

2. a musical setting of this hymn, usually part of a setting of the Requiem

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Etymology

Origin of Dies Irae

literally: day of wrath

Example Sentences

Still, the books wouldn’t have to face that Dies Irae for a while yet.

From Washington Post • Sep. 30, 2020

But in an Ojai still recovering from its own Dies Irae inferno of last season’s fires, she added two small children appearing out of the metronome cataclysm as signs of hope.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 12, 2018

Petrenko grasped the existential terror determining the work's mood swings, from the dark resonance of the Gregorian Dies Irae to manic tone rows and a macabre excursion to an Andalusian bar, with a death rattle on castanets.

From The Guardian • May 5, 2013

Mr. Kalmar led his players in a taut, passionate account, with superb woodwind and brass playing and pointed percussion in the Dies Irae and a haunting string tone in the closing Requiem Aeternam.

From New York Times • May 13, 2011

From Dies Irae, the hymn in the mass for the dead, best known to English readers from the paraphrase of it in Scott’s Lay of the Last Minstrel.

From The Social Cancer by Derbyshire, Charles E.