idyll

or i·dyl

[ ahyd-l ]

noun

1. a delightful, tranquil rural scene or episode, reminiscent of or suitable for pastoral art or literature:

   A great many horror movies are set in a suburban idyll.

2. a short descriptive or narrative poem or prose work, depicting a pleasant, tranquil, idealized pastoral scene or event, or any charmingly simple episode in literature.
3. A long narrative poem on a major theme, but less elevated and formal in subject matter, language, and tone than an epic:

   Tennyson's Idylls of the King is an elegaic retelling of Arthurian legend.

4. a brief or inconsequential romantic affair.
5. Music. a composition, usually instrumental, of a pastoral or sentimental character.

idyll

/ ˈɪdɪl /

noun

1. a poem or prose work describing an idealized rural life, pastoral scenes, etc
2. any simple narrative or descriptive piece in poetry or prose
3. a charming or picturesque scene or event
4. a piece of music with a calm or pastoral character

Word History and Origins

Origin of idyll¹

First recorded in 1595–1605; from Latin īdyllium from Greek eidýllion “short pastoral poem,” equivalent to eíd(os) “form” + -yllion diminutive suffix

Word History and Origins

Origin of idyll¹

C17: from Latin īdyllium, from Greek eidullion, from eidos shape, (literary) form

Example Sentences

From the working-class Honeymooners to the middle-class suburban idyll epitomized by Father Knows Best, The Donna Reed Show and many more, TV offered familiar, if pithier or more wholesome, representations of regular American families.

From Time

The pursuit of this elusive idyll seems to be what makes him tick.

From Nautilus

Despite moving from the idyll of Golden State to a somewhat sloppier situation with the Nets — Durant, Harden, and Irving may reach the playoffs having played just seven games together — Durant has maintained his production across categories.

From FiveThirtyEight

The irony is that Paradise is anything but, especially for the characters whose hard work and impoverished lives sustain tourists’ idylls.

From Washington Post

The approach came in handy while Strava-stalking my defector runner friends in their various idylls.

From Outside Online

Landing back in Cannes after this island idyll is always a bit of a shock, festival time or not.

From The Daily Beast

But the intervening years were as close to a domestic idyll as Washington ever experienced.

From The Daily Beast

See Now Then by Jamaica Kincaid  As years go by, a domestic idyll turns dark.

From The Daily Beast

What starts as a domestic idyll turns out to be something much darker.

From The Daily Beast

Yet Odessa's "cosmopolitan idyll" (to use King's phrase) was not what it seemed.

From The Daily Beast

The old story of Boaz and Ruth grew beneath his hands into a delicious idyll of country life.

From Project Gutenberg

It shall be a poem, an idyll—far from all interruptions, far from intrigues!'

From Project Gutenberg

It seemed that she and I had been born brother and sister in some impossible pastoral idyll.

From Project Gutenberg

And what is one to say of the love idyll appended to the historical drama, in spite of history, in spite of the drama itself?

From Project Gutenberg

Possibly it might create a greater sensation if it were introduced to the world as Julia and Pausanias: an Idyll.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• breathing space
• lull
• respite