elegy

noun

el·​e·​gy ˈe-lə-jē 

plural elegies

1

: a poem in elegiac couplets

2

a

: a song or poem expressing sorrow or lamentation especially for one who is dead

b

: something (such as a speech) resembling such a song or poem

3

a

: a pensive or reflective poem that is usually nostalgic or melancholy

b

: a short pensive musical composition

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Elegy vs. Eulogy

Both elegy and eulogy may be used about writing or speech in remembrance of a person who has passed away, and this semantic overlap creates the potential for confusion. Elegy (which may be traced to the Greek word elegos, “song of mourning”) commonly refers to a song or poem lamenting one who is dead; the word may also refer somewhat figuratively to a nostalgic poem, or to a kind of musical composition. While eulogy is also commonly found referring to words about the deceased, its basic meaning, both in English and in the Greek language from which it was borrowed, is “praise.” Formed from the Greek roots eu “good” and logos “speech,” a eulogy is an encomium given for one who is either living or dead. If you are praising your partner’s unsurpassed beauty or commending the virtues of the deceased at a funeral, you are delivering a eulogy; if you are composing a lamenting reminiscence about a person who has long since passed, you are writing an elegy.

Synonyms

• dirge
• lament
• requiem
• threnody

Examples of elegy in a Sentence

“O Captain! My Captain!” is Walt Whitman's elegy on the death of President Lincoln

Recent Examples on the Web

And then on March 29, Swift published an elegy for Partridge. —Jesse David Fox, Vulture, 1 Apr. 2024

Schmuhl’s chapter on Churchill’s experience as President Dwight Eisenhower’s guest, starting in 1953, reads like an elegy, since the jet age was emerging, and quicker diplomatic trips became the standard. —Danny Heitman, The Christian Science Monitor, 25 July 2024

Shades of Thornton Wilder and John Steinbeck flicker in this elegy to the down and out, the dreamers and the sinners who lose everything, even their sense of themselves. —Karen D'souza, The Mercury News, 3 Aug. 2024

In some places, The Return resembles an elegy; in others, a detective story. —Robert F. Worth, Foreign Affairs, 11 Apr. 2017

Word History

Etymology

Latin elegia poem in elegiac couplets, from Greek elegeia, elegeion, from elegos song of mourning

First Known Use

1501, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

elegy

noun

el·​e·​gy ˈel-ə-jē 

plural elegies

: a poem or song expressing sorrow especially for one who is dead

elegiac

ˌel-ə-ˈjī-ək

adjective

elegize

ˈel-ə-ˌjīz

verb