threnody
/ˈθɹɛn.ə.di/
threnody noun: a song or poem of lamentation or mourning for a dead person; a dirge; an elegy.
Noun
threnody (plural threnodies)
- A song or poem of lamentation or mourning for a dead person; a dirge; an elegy.
- The fifer actually knew but one tune "The Bonnie Blue Flag"—and did not know that well. But it was all that he had, and he played it with wearisome monotony for every camp call. . . . I never hated any piece of music as I came to hate that threnody of treason.1879, John McElroy, chapter 44, in Andersonville: A Story of Rebel Military Prisons
- […] in the case of the well-circumstanced narration of the contest at Salamis and of the choral ode, which[…] is, in its panoramic marshalling of the conquests of Darius, a threnody on the ruin of his sea empire.1924, Herbert Weir Smyth, “III. The Persians”, in Aeschylean Tragedy, page 84
- Synonyms:
- dirge, elegy, lamentation
threnody meaning in Tamil, Malayalam and Vietnamese
threnody in Tamil
- a song or poem of lamentation
- ஒப்பாரி oppāri
threnody in Malayalam
- requiem, lament, dirge
- വിലാപകാവ്യം, വിലാപഗീതം, വിലാപഗാനം, വിലാപഗീതി, ശോകഗീതം, ചരമഗീതം
threnody in Vietnamese
- a song or poem of lamentation
- bài điếu ca
Synonyms of threnody
Forms of threnody
| plural | threnodies |
|---|---|
| alternative form (rare) | threnedy |
Origin of threnody
From Ancient Greek θρηνῳδία (thrēnōidía, “lamentation”). Compare the New Latin thrēnōdia.
Words formed from threnody
Words that rhyme with threnody
Questions about threnody
- What does threnody mean?
- Threnody means a song or poem of lamentation or mourning for a dead person; a dirge; an elegy.
- What is threnody in Tamil?
- Threnody in Tamil is ஒப்பாரி (oppāri). See Threnody meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is threnody?
- Threnody is a noun.
- How do you pronounce threnody?
- Threnody is pronounced /ˈθɹɛn.ə.di/.
- What is the plural of threnody?
- The plural of threnody is threnodies.
Words near threnody in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: threnody (page history and authors); threnody (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-threnody.ogg.
Cite this entry: “threnody.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/threnody. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.