fugal

American

[fyoo-guhl] / ˈfyu gəl /

adjective

Music.

of or relating to a fugue, or composed in the style of a fugue.

fugal British

/ ˈfjuːɡəl /

adjective

of, relating to, or in the style of a fugue

"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

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

Etymology

Origin of fugal

First recorded in 1850–55; fugue + -al ¹

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.

Johann Sebastian Bach composed some of his best works by hewing to a self-imposed fugal format.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 13, 2026

It’s a sharp-clawed, hard-edge, uncompromising 16 minutes, its fugal form an insufficient cage for Beethoven’s beast.

From Washington Post • Dec. 10, 2022

The fugal master of the age, and probably all time, was another German.

From Economist • Mar. 13, 2018

And listen to a fleeting fugal episode in the third movement, when his skills as a pristine Bach player come in handy.

From New York Times • Oct. 20, 2017

Another fugal trick is ‘retrograde’ motion, whereby the tune is played backwards against its forward-playing self.

From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023