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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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Origin of fugue

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

OTHER WORDS FROM fugue

fugue·like, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use fugue in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for fugue

fugue
/ (fjuːɥ) /

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
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