tetralogy

American  

[te-tral-uh-jee, -trah-luh-] / tɛˈtræl ə dʒi, -ˈtrɑ lə- /

noun

plural

tetralogies

1. a series of four related dramas, operas, novels, etc.

2. a group of four dramas, three tragedies and one satyr play, performed consecutively at the festival of Dionysus in ancient Athens.

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tetralogy British  

/ tɛˈtrælədʒɪ /

noun

1. a series of four related works, as in drama or opera

2. (in ancient Greece) a group of four dramas, the first three tragic and the last satiric

3. pathol a group of four symptoms present in one disorder, esp Fallot's tetralogy

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Etymology

Origin of tetralogy

From the Greek word tetralogía, dating back to 1650–60. See tetra-, -logy

Example Sentences

Billy was born with a condition called tetralogy of Fallot with pulmonary atresia, a severe heart defect that occurs in approximately one in 2,500 babies.

From Los Angeles Times • May 28, 2024

This one was a tetralogy: The Filipino champion and his Mexican rival met four times over eight years.

From Seattle Times • Sep. 16, 2022

Scurati’s rendering of the turbulent years from 1919 to 1925, the first volume in a projected tetralogy, is translated by Anne Milano Appel.

From Washington Post • Apr. 6, 2022

Even so, the espionage trappings are significant in a work that makes up a quarter of Ashley’s tetralogy “Now Eleanor’s Idea,” which in its entirety is an allegory for American westward expansion.

From New York Times • Oct. 19, 2021

He thus made up a total of four dramas, or a tetralogy, which he got up and brought forward to contend for the prize at the festival.

From Specimens of Greek Tragedy — Aeschylus and Sophocles by Smith, Goldwin