elegiac
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.
an elegiac or distich verse.
a poem in such distichs or verses.
Origin of elegiac
1Other words from elegiac
- el·e·gi·a·cal·ly, adverb
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
British Dictionary definitions for elegiac
/ (ˌɛlɪˈdʒaɪək) /
resembling, characteristic of, relating to, or appropriate to an elegy
lamenting; mournful; plaintive
denoting or written in elegiac couplets or elegiac stanzas
(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
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