dirge

as in lament
a composition expressing one's grief over a loss bagpipes played a haunting dirge at the funeral for the fallen leader

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of dirge When the relatives begin to arrive, crawling in on their knees, droning a dirge about death, Shula promptly departs for a hotel, pink suitcase in tow. Namwali Serpell, The New Yorker, 25 Mar. 2025 On the final night, one of the regulars hired a Scotsman in a kilt to play a bagpipe dirge. Zach Helfand, The New Yorker, 10 Mar. 2025 Ethel Cain: Perverts [Daughters of Cain] Ethel Cain found unlikely pop fandom with Preacher’s Daughter, her 2022 debut album, thanks to its emotional dirges and heavy lyrics. Nina Corcoran, Pitchfork, 10 Jan. 2025 The hand drums, played here by Keith, make this one spooky dirge. Angie Martoccio, Rolling Stone, 19 July 2024 See All Example Sentences for dirge
Recent Examples of Synonyms for dirge
Noun
  • Deeply layered and emotionally charged, the work reads like a visual lament, for what’s been lost, what still remains, and the unresolved stories that continue to flow beneath the surface.
    Nel-Olivia Waga, Forbes.com, 17 Apr. 2025
  • Unfortunately, Curl laments they’re destined for the donation bin.
    Cori Sears, Better Homes & Gardens, 15 Apr. 2025
Noun
  • The title is borrowed from Elizabeth Alexander’s fourth collection persona poems, historical narratives, jazz riffs, sonnets, elegies, and a sequence of ars poetica which examines the Black experience through the lens of the slave rebellion on the Amistad and nineteenth-century American art.
    Natasha Gural, Forbes.com, 4 Apr. 2025
  • Eephus is an elegy, but with just the barest hint of sentimentality—a shrugging send-off that simultaneously cares deeply about America’s pastime.
    David Sims, The Atlantic, 14 Mar. 2025
Noun
  • The album thematically focuses on the idea of the afterlife in both a literal and figurative sense, with a touch of Carlile's anecdotal songwriting and requiems for artists' past.
    Madison E. Goldberg, People.com, 5 Apr. 2025
  • Whether a requiem is due for rom-coms or not, in the meantime there's at least a conveyor belt of cringe to feast upon.
    Anna Kaufman, USA TODAY, 6 Mar. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Dirge.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/dirge. Accessed 29 Apr. 2025.

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