monody

American  

[mon-uh-dee] / ˈmɒn ə di /

noun

plural

monodies

1. a Greek ode sung by a single voice, as in a tragedy; lament.

2. a poem in which the poet or speaker laments another's death; threnody.

3. Music.

   1. a style of composition in which one part or melody predominates; homophony, as distinguished from polyphony.

   2. a piece in this style.

   3. monophony.

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monody British  

/ ˈmɒnədɪ, mɒˈnɒdɪk /

noun

1. (in Greek tragedy) an ode sung by a single actor

2. any poem of lament for someone's death

3. music a style of composition consisting of a single vocal part, usually with accompaniment

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Other Word Forms

• monodic adjective
• monodically adverb
• monodist noun

Etymology

Origin of monody

First recorded in 1580–90; from Late Latin monōdia, from Greek monōidía “a solo, monody,” equivalent to monōid(ós) “singing alone” + -ia noun suffix; mon-, ode ) -y ³

Example Sentences

“The Wishing Tree,” a beautiful, seemingly slight nine-line monody, commemorates his laconic, generous mother—“I thought of her as the wishing tree that died / And saw it lifted, root and branch, to heaven.”

From The New Yorker • Oct. 3, 2019

Suddenly, a hidden 35-piece baroque orchestra begins the accompaniment to the introductory monody, and a spotlight picks out a bearded Father Time at the door of a pyramid above the abyss.

From Time Magazine Archive

At twelve years, he wrote a monody on "The Burial of Brian Boru," which is given below.

From Authors and Writers Associated with Morristown With a Chapter on Historic Morristown by Colles, Julia Keese

What sport the monody on Napoleon would be—what wooden verse, what stucco ornament!

From The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition Vol. 23 (of 25) by Stevenson, Robert Louis

The chorus died; and we heard again the deep monody of the sea, like the admonitory voice of fate.

From Old Junk by Ratcliffe, S. K. (Samuel Kerkham)

Related Words

• elegy
• hymn