DIRGE Synonyms: 11 Similar and Opposite Words

dirge

noun

ˈdərj

Definition of 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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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 This offers respite from the music ever feeling too dirge-like. — Brendan Hay, SPIN, 1 May 2026 The pioneering alt-country band returns with its first album in 30 years—a set of cryptic, languid dirges that feels defiantly out-of-time. — Zach Schonfeld, Pitchfork, 17 Apr. 2026 Last year’s version had two good performances, in Onya and Jewels, and was otherwise a total dirge. — Jason P. Frank, Vulture, 21 Feb. 2026 Swedish singer-composer Anna von Hausswolff, whose cathedral melodies, intense vocals and doom-laden dirges share much in common with Nordic heavy-metal culture, specializes in mystery and grandiosity. — Bob Gendron, Chicago Tribune, 9 Jan. 2026 See All Example Sentences for dirge

Recent Examples of Synonyms for dirge

Noun

Williams intermittently cuts to ominous exterior shots of a dark church and layers in a score of hymnal lament.

— Ritesh Mehta, IndieWire, 15 Sep. 2026
That ambiguity is echoed in Banks’ score, which takes on the tone of a lament and a celebration, frustration and hope, struggle and liberation, the quest for transcendence in the face of the challenges posed by daunting inequities.

— George Varga, San Diego Union-Tribune, 23 Aug. 2026

Definition of lament

Noun

Because so many of Gunn’s friends died in San Francisco, a city where Gunn had found happiness and freedom, then these elegies are also a monument to a time of communal sorrow and mourning.

— Colm Tóibín, Literary Hub, 30 Sep. 2026
Their books are therefore, in some respects, elegies to a conception of reading and writing which seems to be nearing an end.

— Louis Menand, New Yorker, 21 Sep. 2026

Definition of elegy

Noun

The objectors' subsequent ululation echoed a requiem for a fallen hero--all over a time shift that accessing the PBS app avoids entirely.

— Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 25 Sep. 2026
And for me, ‘Amor Eterno,’ coincidentally also patterns how most requiems start, which is requiem eternum, eternal rest, eternal love.

— Rod Stafford Hagwood, Sun Sentinel, 29 May 2026

Definition of requiem

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direful

dirge

dirgelike

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“Dirge.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/dirge. Accessed 9 Oct. 2026.

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Synonyms of dirge

noun

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