fugue

[ fyoog ]

/ fyug /

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noun

Music. a polyphonic composition based upon one, two, or more themes, which are enunciated by several voices or parts in turn, subjected to contrapuntal treatment, and gradually built up into a complex form having somewhat distinct divisions or stages of development and a marked climax at the end.

Psychiatry. a period during which a person experiences loss of memory, often begins a new life, and, upon recovery, remembers nothing of the amnesic phase.

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THINGAMABOB OR THINGUMMY: CAN YOU DISTINGUISH BETWEEN THE US AND UK TERMS IN THIS QUIZ?

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Question 1 of 7

In the UK, COTTON CANDY is more commonly known as…

candystring

candyfloss

candypuff

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Origin of fugue

First recorded in 1590–1600; from French, from Italian fuga, from Latin: “flight”

OTHER WORDS FROM fugue

fugue·like, adjective

Words nearby fugue

fugitometer, fugle, fugleman, fugly, fugu, fugue, fuguist, Führer, Führer, der, Fu-hsi, Fujayrah

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use fugue in a sentence

Try to avoid shivering as you listen to Bach’s “Toccata and Fugue in D minor” — a stormy organ piece that’s become standard for horror films.
The best things to do in the D.C. area the week of Oct. 28 to Nov. 4|Fritz Hahn, Anying Guo, Stephanie Williams, Haben Kelati, Adele Chapin|October 28, 2021|Washington Post
Next, because the continuation of a phrase also needs to follow a certain musical form, whether it’s a scherzo, trio or fugue, the AI needed to learn Beethoven’s process for developing these forms.
An AI finished Beethoven’s final symphony. But is it good?|Ahmed Elgammal/The Conversation|September 26, 2021|Popular-Science
Years earlier, Elena fell into a possible fugue state and has no memory of six months of her life.
Amanda Dennis’s ‘Her Here’ is a spellbinding existential thriller|Lauren LeBlanc|March 11, 2021|Washington Post
By day, she muddles through in a depressive fugue, for reasons the movie will make clear later.
Promising Young Woman Starts with a Cathartic Blast. Then It Gets Bogged Down With Cynicism|Stephanie Zacharek|January 15, 2021|Time

Research has shown that a fugue state may be induced by intensely emotional or stressful events.
Transient Global Amnesia: What Total Memory Loss Is Like|Dr. Anand Veeravagu, MD|July 28, 2013|DAILY BEAST
Green, however, said: “They can no more be separated than the voices of a fugue.”
Halloween Read: Thomas Browne’s Eerie Premonition of His Burial|Stefan Beck|October 30, 2012|DAILY BEAST
The guy showed up with a giant bottle of OxyContin that he had stolen from his mother and I slipped right back into a fugue state.
Confessions of a Pill Head|Joshua Lyon|July 10, 2009|DAILY BEAST
The sonnet is a sort of poetical fugue in which the theme ought to pass and repass until its final resolution in a given form.
Charles Baudelaire, His Life|Thophile Gautier
I went down to the little parlor and tried the fugue on the piano, but could not remember the portion in question.
Piano Mastery|Harriette Brower
The music of the four-part fugue entered into him more deeply, and he began to hum its little phrases.
The Longest Journey|E. M. Forster
But like the theme in a fugue this loud tranquil recurrent need to Express me transcends them all.
I, Mary MacLane|Mary MacLane
It is customary to describe the music as a fugue, and, if that is so, no more unfugue-like fugue was ever penned.
Richard Wagner|John F. Runciman

British Dictionary definitions for fugue

fugue

/ (fjuːɡ) /

noun

a musical form consisting essentially of a theme repeated a fifth above or a fourth below the continuing first statement

psychiatry a dreamlike altered state of consciousness, lasting from a few hours to several days, during which a person loses his or her memory for his or her previous life and often wanders away from home

Derived forms of fugue

fuguelike, adjective

Word Origin for fugue

C16: from French, from Italian fuga, from Latin: a running away, flight

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

fugue

Origin of fugue

OTHER WORDS FROM fugue

Words nearby fugue

Words related to fugue

How to use fugue in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for fugue

Derived forms of fugue

Word Origin for fugue