elegiac

[ el-i-jahy-uh k, -ak, ih-lee-jee-ak ]
/ ˌɛl ɪˈdʒaɪ ək, -æk, ɪˈli dʒiˌæk /

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.

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Origin of elegiac

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

OTHER WORDS FROM elegiac

el·e·gi·a·cal·ly, adverb

Words nearby elegiac

eledoisin, eleemosynary, elegance, elegancy, elegant, elegiac, elegiac couplet, elegiac pentameter, elegiac stanza, elegist, elegit
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2020

British Dictionary definitions for elegiacally

elegiac
/ (ˌɛlɪˈdʒaɪək) /

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 forms of elegiac

elegiacally, 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