fugue

[ fyoog ]

/ fyug /

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 suffers from loss of memory, often begins a new life, and, upon recovery, remembers nothing of the amnesic phase.

Words nearby fugue

fugitometer, fugle, fugleman, fugly, fugu, fugue, fuguist, fujayrah, fuji, fujian, fujimori

Origin of fugue

1590–1600; < French < Italian fuga < Latin: flight

OTHER WORDS FROM fugue

fugue·like, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for fugue

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 Fugue is the most legitimate representation of true polyphony.
Piano Playing|Josef Hofmann

I played till 11 o'clock, bombarded and besieged, as it were, by fugue themes.
The Letters of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Vol. 1|Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
When the last motif has been worked out, the Grave is repeated, and then again the fugue.
Life Of Mozart, Vol. 1 (of 3)|Otto Jahn
The fugue of the sonata in G minor is also arranged for organ in D minor.
Bach|Charles Francis Abdy Williams
The great bulk of Bach's compositions are in two forms, the Prelude and the Fugue.
A Popular History of the Art of Music|W. S. B. Mathews

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

Medical definitions for fugue

fugue

[ fyōōg ]

n.

A pathological amnesiac condition that may persist for several months and usually results from severe mental stress, in which one is apparently conscious of one's actions but has no recollection of them after returning to a normal state.

fugue

noun

Words related to fugue

Words nearby fugue

Origin of fugue

OTHER WORDS FROM fugue

Examples from the Web for fugue

British Dictionary definitions for fugue

noun

Derived forms of fugue

Word Origin for fugue

Medical definitions for fugue

n.