threnody

[thren-uh-dee]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR threnody ON THESAURUS.COM

noun, plural thren·o·dies.

a poem, speech, or song of lamentation, especially for the dead; dirge; funeral song.

Origin of threnody

1615–25; < Greek thrēnōidía, equivalent to thrên(os) dirge + -ōid(ḗ) song (see ode) + -ia -y³

Related formsthre·no·di·al

[thri-noh-dee-uh l] /θrɪˈnoʊ di əl/, thre·nod·ic

[thri-nod-ik] /θrɪˈnɒd ɪk/, adjectivethren·o·dist

[thren-uh-dist] /ˈθrɛn ə dɪst/, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for threnody

dirge, poem, elegy, requiem

Examples from the Web for threnody

Contemporary Examples of threnody

Personally I reckon “Threnody” will give even Jordan 's page-turners a run for their money.
Amis vs. "Two Bags of Silicone"
Olivia Cole
November 8, 2009

Historical Examples of threnody

I never hated any piece of music as I came to hate that threnody of treason.
Andersonville, Volume 3
John McElroy
In Maeterlinck's mimings there is something of the spirit of Walt Whitman's threnody.
Iconoclasts
James Huneker
The most famous as well as the most powerful and original of Bion's poems remaining to us is the threnody upon Adonis.
Library Of The World's Best Literature, Ancient And Modern, Vol 4
Charles Dudley Warner
From below a new sound had been added to the threnody of the hills; a new note, grumbling and roaring, insistent and strong.
The Plunderer
Roy Norton
The subject of the threnody is a nymph of the name of Dido, whose identity can only be vaguely conjectured.
Pastoral Poetry and Pastoral Drama
Walter W. Greg

British Dictionary definitions for threnody

threnody

threnode (ˈθriːnəʊd, ˈθrɛn-)

noun plural threnodies or threnodes

an ode, song, or speech of lamentation, esp for the dead

Derived Formsthrenodial (θrɪˈnəʊdɪəl) or threnodic (θrɪˈnɒdɪk), adjectivethrenodist (ˈθrɛnədɪst, ˈθriː-), noun

Word Origin for threnody

C17: from Greek thrēnōidia, from thrēnos dirge + ōidē song

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

Word Origin and History for threnody

"song of lamentation," 1630s, from Greek threnodia, from threnos "dirge, lament" + oide "ode" (see ode). Greek threnos probably is from a PIE imitative root meaning "to murmur, hum;" cf. Old English dran "drone," Gothic drunjus "sound," Greek tenthrene "a kind of wasp."