fugue

noun

ˈfyüg 

1

a

: a musical composition in which one or two themes are repeated or imitated by successively entering voices and contrapuntally developed in a continuous interweaving of the voice parts

The organist played a four-voiced fugue.

b

: something that resembles a fugue especially in interweaving repetitive elements

a story that … is as rich and multilayered as a fugue

—Heather Vogel Frederick

2

: a disturbed state of consciousness in which the one affected seems to perform acts in full awareness but upon recovery cannot recollect the acts performed

fugue verb

fuguist

ˈfyü-gist 

noun

Did you know?

Fugue and Bach

Bach and Handel composed many fugues for harpsichord and organ in which the various parts (or voices) seem to flee from and chase each other in an intricate dance. Each part, after it has stated the theme or melody, apparently flees from the next part, which takes up the same theme and sets off in pursuit. Simple rounds such as "Three Blind Mice" or "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" could be called fugues for children, but a true fugue can be long and extremely complex.

Examples of fugue in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The two versions of the same woman trade off being in a week-long fugue state while the other one goes out in the world — or stays in her swanky L.A. apartment. —Randy Myers, The Mercury News, 19 Sep. 2024

Especially when there appears to be no cure for the patient in her charge, the wife of a plantation owner, who’s in a trance-like fugue state. —Wilson Chapman, IndieWire, 17 Sep. 2024

Maybe a show like Mulaney’s will be different enough to shake voters out of their fugue state. —Joe Reid, Vulture, 18 May 2024

Yet more than most movies, midnight-appropriate or otherwise, this is a work purposefully designed to put you in a particular kind of fugue state. —David Fear, Rolling Stone, 2 May 2024

Word History

Etymology

probably from Italian fuga flight, fugue, from Latin, flight, from fugere

First Known Use

1597, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Kids Definition

fugue

noun

ˈfyüg 

: a musical composition in which themes are repeated in complex patterns

fugal

ˈfyü-gəl

adjective

Medical Definition

fugue

noun

ˈfyüg 

: a disturbed state of consciousness in which the one affected seems to perform acts in full awareness but upon recovery cannot recollect them