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 threnodyHis diary shrank to a litany of suffering and a threnody for what might have been.—
Sara Wheeler,
WSJ,
25 Oct. 2018 Most critics acknowledged the score’s beautiful moments, especially Cleopatra’s death scene, in which the character’s plaintive lyrical lines are capped by a chilling choral threnody.—
Anthony Tommasini,
New York Times,
22 Dec. 2017
The coffin was unveiled late on Thursday to a throng of sobbing supporters, who were swaying and beating their heads in time to a sung lament as flowers were thrown from the bier into the crowd.
—
Reuters,
USA Today,
4 July 2026
His lament mirrored the anguish of legions of Venezuelans who endured harrowing days clearing rubble by hand before crews with heavy equipment and rescue dogs belatedly arrived.
Not long after, his elegy was answered, as neotraditional sounds have made a big comeback on country radio, led by artists like Zach Top and Midland.
—
Marissa R. Moss,
Rolling Stone,
28 June 2026
Ashura processions are usually dramatic affairs, with chanters singing elegies or dirges dedicated to Hussein, while audience members beat their chests and engage in displays of mourning.
Ashura processions are usually dramatic affairs, with chanters singing elegies or dirges dedicated to Hussein, while audience members beat their chests and engage in displays of mourning.
—
Nabih Bulos,
Los Angeles Times,
22 June 2026
This is the starting point of Earth 7, Deb Olin Unferth’s stellar and sweeping science fiction novel that is part cosmic comedy and part dirge to our dying world.