Tenebrae

American  

[ten-uh-brey] / ˈtɛn əˌbreɪ /

noun

(used with a singular or plural verb)

1. the office of matins and lauds for Thursday, Friday, and Saturday of Holy Week, sung respectively on the afternoon of Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday of that week, at which the Crucifixion is commemorated by the gradual extinguishment of candles.

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Tenebrae British  

/ ˈtɛnəˌbreɪ /

noun

1. (functioning as singular or plural) RC Church (formerly) the matins and lauds for Thursday, Friday, and Saturday of Holy Week, usually sung in the evenings or at night

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Etymology

Origin of Tenebrae

1645–55; < Latin: literally, darkness

Example Sentences

Dynamics were also crucial: When Jesus cried out on the cross in the “Tenebrae” responsory, “exclamavit” was startlingly loud; his death, “emisit spiritum,” was barely audible.

From The Wall Street Journal

In a tribute on the website of the London-based choir Tenebrae, Nigel Short, the choir’s director, recalled the crucial support Mr. Bowman gave him early in his career.

From New York Times

“Dark Glasses” isn’t a delirious masterpiece like his “Suspiria” or “Tenebrae.”

From Los Angeles Times

In 1982, Giallo master Dario Argento directed a slasher film called Tenebrae, or “darkness.”

From The Verge

Tenebrae unfolds like many other Italian horror movies of the period, but in the years after, Argento told interviewers that it actually took place in a near-future where the human race has been depopulated by an unspoken tragedy.

From The Verge