nocturne

American  

[nok-turn] / ˈnɒk tɜrn /

noun

Music.

1. a piece appropriate to the night or evening.

2. an instrumental composition of a dreamy or pensive character.

---

nocturne British  

/ ˈnɒktɜːn /

noun

1. a short, lyrical piece of music, esp one for the piano

2. a painting or tone poem of a night scene

---

Etymology

Origin of nocturne

From the French word nocturne, dating back to 1860–65. See nocturn

Explanation

A nocturne is a piece of dreamy piano music. A particularly lovely, well-played nocturne might bring tears to your eyes. Sniff, sniff. Nocturnes are traditionally inspired by or suggesting nighttime, with the resulting composition being romantic and a bit melancholy. The earliest nocturnes were written and performed (usually in the evening) in the eighteenth century. Chopin is probably the most well known composer of nocturnes, having written twenty-one of them. The word nocturne comes from the Latin nocturnus, "belonging to the night."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

nocturne

The pianist is playing a nocturne, a lovely bit of night music.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 29, 2026

Jacobs’s textures were also beautifully varied in the “Prière,” the trumpet mellowed by the vast space without losing its focus; the “Prélude, Fugue et Variation” was a wistful nocturne, sensitively controlled and never overblown.

From New York Times ● Jun. 8, 2022

For various reasons, I was expected to deliver a longish address at my high-school graduation, and after composing it—the easy part—I turned to a speech therapist and rehearsed as if it were a Chopin nocturne.

From Slate ● Dec. 6, 2017

“And then something will surface. I just wrote my first real classical piece, a nocturne for piano and orchestra. I hope I get it played here sometime.”

From The New Yorker ● May 1, 2017

She got my bathrobe for me, and then she dried my hair with those powerful fingers of hers as gently as she might coax a nocturne from our old piano.

From "Jacob Have I Loved" by Katherine Paterson