Requiem

Or req·ui·em

[rek-wee-uhm, ree-kwee-, rey-]

noun

1. Roman Catholic Church.

   1. Also called Requiem Mass. the Mass celebrated for the repose of the souls of the dead.

   2. a celebration of this Mass.

   3. a plainsong setting for this Mass.

2. any musical service, hymn, or dirge for the repose of the dead.

Requiem

/ ˈrɛkwɪˌɛm /

noun

1. RC Church a Mass celebrated for the dead

2. a musical setting of this Mass

3. any piece of music composed or performed as a memorial to a dead person or persons

Requiem

1. In music, a Mass for one or more dead persons, containing biblical passages and prayers for the admission of the dead to heaven. The term has been loosely applied to other musical compositions in honor of the dead. A German Requiem by Johannes Brahms, for example, uses texts from the Bible (see also Bible) but is not a Mass.

Word History and Origins

Origin of Requiem¹

First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English, from Latin, accusative of requiēs ”rest” (the first word of the introit of the mass for the dead); re- ( def. ), quiet ( def. )

Word History and Origins

Origin of Requiem¹

C14: from Latin requiēs rest, from the opening of the introit, Requiem aeternam dona eis Rest eternal grant unto them

Example Sentences

The most striking departures are the handful of wordless sequences of Hujar and Rosenkrantz posing in the manner of a fashion shoot, scored to snippets of Mozart’s Requiem.

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A few months earlier, he wrote a song for his old neighborhood called “Requiem for a Village.”

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The King and Queen and other senior royals will attend Tuesday's Requiem Mass at the cathedral, the first Catholic funeral for a member of the Royal Family in Britain's modern history.

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The duchess was a Catholic and there will be a Requiem Mass for her funeral, which will be the first royal Catholic funeral in the UK in modern history.

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No one would describe watching the handful of addicts in “Requiem for a Dream” descend to a new circle of unimaginable, dopesick Hell as a “romp.”

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