swan song

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.

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Origin of swan song

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

Words nearby swan song

swan dive, swan lake, swan lake, the, swan maiden, swan neck, swan song, swan's neck, swan's neck pediment, swan's-down, swan-dive, swan-ganz catheter
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2020

Words related to swan song

farewell, windup, adieu, climax, conclusion, culmination, epilogue, goodbye, closer, coda, envoi, finis, peroration

Example sentences from the Web for swan song

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

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.

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.