swan song

Save This Word!

See synonyms for swan song on Thesaurus.com

noun

the last act or manifestation of someone or something; farewell appearance: This building turned out to be the swan song of Victorian architecture.

QUIZ

QUIZ YOURSELF ON "IS" VS. "ARE"

"Is" it time for a new quiz? "Are" you ready? Then prove your excellent skills on using "is" vs. "are."

Question 1 of 7

IS and ARE are both forms of which verb?

have

TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT

Origin of swan song

First recorded in 1825–35; so called from the belief that the dying swan sings

Words nearby swan song

Swansea, swanskin, swan's neck, swan's neck pediment, Swanson, swan song, swan-upping, Swanz, swap, swap horses, swap meet

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022

How to use swan song in a sentence

In 2020, Ghost of Tsushima got to be the PlayStation 4’s swan song.
PS4 games to play on PS5|Mike Epstein|September 21, 2021|Popular-Science
Had the Olympics taken place last summer, veterans such as Megan Rapinoe and Carli Lloyd probably would’ve had their swan songs.
Why 2021 will be a big year for soccer in the U.S.|Steven Goff|January 6, 2021|Washington Post
So here I am in my requisite Lululemon pants, grunting along to an old hip-hop song at a most ungodly hour.
How Taryn Toomey’s ‘The Class’ Became New York’s Latest Fitness Craze|Lizzie Crocker|January 9, 2015|DAILY BEAST
I still do find it a tremendously useful device to invent a character and have the character sing the song.
Belle & Sebastian Aren’t So Shy Anymore|James Joiner|January 7, 2015|DAILY BEAST

In 2012, as a 10th grader, Lean says he recorded his first legitimate song, “Hurt.”
The Cult of Yung Lean: ‘I’m Building An Anarchistic Society From the Ground Up’|Marlow Stern|January 4, 2015|DAILY BEAST
So we picked out the song (“Rhiannon,” click here for video), and Deer Tick learned it.
Deer Tick's John McCauley on Ten Years in Rock and Roll|James Joiner|January 2, 2015|DAILY BEAST
So this is Christmas, as the song goes, and what have we done?
No Gods, No Cops, No Masters|James Poulos|January 1, 2015|DAILY BEAST
At this moment the tinkling of a mule's bells, mingled with the song of the muleteer, came on the air.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 60, No. 372, October 1846|Various
Gushing waters thrilled the ears with the sweetness of an old familiar song.
The Giant of the North|R.M. Ballantyne
The song stopped abruptly, the music died away, there was an interval of silence no one broke.
The Wave|Algernon Blackwood
"He 's getting well," thought Black Sheep, who knew the song through all its seventeen verses.
Kipling Stories and Poems Every Child Should Know, Book II|Rudyard Kipling
As Edna waited for her husband she sang low a little song that Robert had sung as they crossed the bay.
The Awakening and Selected Short Stories|Kate Chopin

British Dictionary definitions for swan song

swan song

noun

the last act, appearance, publication, or utterance of a person before retirement or death

the song that a dying swan is said to sing

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

Other Idioms and Phrases with swan song

swan song

A final accomplishment or performance, one's last work. For example, I'm resigning tomorrow; this project was my swan song. This term alludes to the old belief that swans normally are mute but burst into beautiful song moments before they die. Although the idea is much older, the term was first recorded in English only in 1890.

swan song

Origin of swan song

Words nearby swan song

Words related to swan song

How to use swan song in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for swan song

Other Idioms and Phrases with swan song