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.

Nearby words

eledoisin, eleemosynary, elegance, elegancy, elegant, elegiac, elegiac couplet, elegiac pentameter, elegiac stanza, elegist, elegit

Origin of elegiac

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

Related forms

el·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

/ (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

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