elegiacal

Variant of elegiac

elegiac definition

el·egi·ac (el ē′jē ak′, i lē′-; el′ə jī′ak′, -ək)

adjective

  1. Gr. & Latin Prosody of or composed in dactylic-hexameter couplets, the second line (sometimes called a pentameter) having only an accented syllable in the third and sixth feet: the form was used for elegies and various other lyric poems
  2. of, like, or fit for an elegy
  3. sad; mournful; plaintive
Also elegiacal el′·egi′a·cal (el′ə jī′ə kəl)

Etymology: LL elegiacus < Gr elegeiakos < elegeia: see elegy

noun

  1. an elegiac couplet
  2. a series of such couplets; poem or poems written in such couplets

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2009 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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