elegiac

[el-i-jahy-uh k, -ak, ih-lee-jee-ak]

adjective Also el·e·gi·a·cal.

used in, suitable for, or resembling an elegy.

expressing sorrow or lamentation: elegiac strains.

Classical Prosody. noting a distich or couplet the first line of which is a dactylic hexameter and the second a pentameter, or a verse differing from the hexameter by suppression of the arsis or metrically unaccented part of the third and the sixth foot.

noun

an elegiac or distich verse.

a poem in such distichs or verses.

Origin of elegiac

1575–85; (< Middle French) < Latin elegīacus < Greek elegeiakós. See elegy, -ac

Related formsel·e·gi·a·cal·ly, adverb

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

British Dictionary definitions for elegiacally

elegiac

adjective

resembling, characteristic of, relating to, or appropriate to an elegy

lamenting; mournful; plaintive

denoting or written in elegiac couplets or elegiac stanzas

noun

(often plural) an elegiac couplet or stanza

Derived Formselegiacally, adverb

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for elegiacally

elegiac

adj.

1580s, from Middle French élégiaque, from Latin elegiacus, from Greek elegeiakos, from eleigeia (see elegy). Related: Elegiacally.