nocturne

[ nok-turn ]

/ ˈnɒk tɜrn /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR nocturne ON THESAURUS.COM

noun Music.

a piece appropriate to the night or evening.

an instrumental composition of a dreamy or pensive character.

Nearby words

nocturnal, nocturnal arc, nocturnal emission, nocturnal enuresis, nocturnal myoclonus, nocturne, nocuous, nod, nod off, nod out, nodal

Origin of nocturne

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

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

Examples from the Web for nocturne

Before the end of the nocturne carriage bells are heard outside.
The Light Shines in Darkness|Leo Tolstoy
If any reader has a curiosity to know what my yacht is not like, he should read the striking yacht chapter in Nocturne.
When Winter Comes to Main Street|Grant Martin Overton
The lovely "nocturne" of the evening plain had passed into a Vision or Masque of Force that captured the mind.
Marriage la mode|Mrs. Humphry Ward
The latter piece, Harmonies du soir in the first, as well as in the final version, appears as a kind of Nocturne.
Franz Liszt|James Huneker

That evening she sang and played to him for a long time, exclaiming now and then: "We want a man's voice for this nocturne."
Vendetta|Honore de Balzac

British Dictionary definitions for nocturne

nocturne

/ (ˈnɒktɜːn) /

noun

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

a painting or tone poem of a night scene

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