elegiac
Americanadjective
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used in, suitable for, or resembling an elegy.
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expressing sorrow or lamentation.
elegiac strains.
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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
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an elegiac or distich verse.
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a poem in such distichs or verses.
adjective
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resembling, characteristic of, relating to, or appropriate to an elegy
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lamenting; mournful; plaintive
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denoting or written in elegiac couplets or elegiac stanzas
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of elegiac
First recorded in 1575–85; from Middle French, from Latin elegīacus, from Greek elegeiakós; equivalent to elegy + -ac
Explanation
If there's one song on your playlist that always brings tears to your eyes, maybe it's because it has an elegiac quality. Elegiac means "mournful or sad." The adjective elegiac is useful when you're talking about music, a movie, a book, or another work of art that has a sorrowful tone. Sometimes elegiac specifically refers to something or someone that's gone: a person who's died, or a time in the past, especially if you feel a sense of longing for it. You can speak in an elegiac way, or sing an elegiac tune. The word comes from the Greek elegos, "poem or song of lament."
Vocabulary lists containing elegiac
The SAT: Words to Capture Tone, List 1
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The New SAT: Words to Capture Tone
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Death of a Salesman
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Character actor Noah Segan’s directorial debut, the movie is a warmly elegiac portrait of the city and the pain of recognizing when your time has passed.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 31, 2026
The film, made in collaboration with his King's Foundation charity, is a sometimes elegiac look at his many decades of campaigning to protect the natural world.
From BBC • Jan. 28, 2026
Williams encouraged Inge to write, and Inge’s first major success, “Come Back, Little Sheba,” established his voice: naturalistic, elegiac, and psychologically incisive.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 2, 2026
“Beloved Renegade” is as elegiac a gathering as “Speaking in Tongues” is a chilling one.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 17, 2025
The correspondence lost its argumentative edge and shifted back to an elegiac, still-life pattern after 1820.
From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
