1. verses written in elegiac meter, typically consisting of alternating dactylic hexameter and pentameter lines
Usage: literary; poetry
2. mournful or melancholic poems, especially those lamenting the dead
Usage: literary

Examples

• The ancient Roman poets were masters of elegiacs.
• Ovid’s elegiacs influenced generations of later writers.
• She studied the structure of elegiacs in her classical literature course.
• The poet’s elegiacs captured the sorrow of wartime loss.
• Greek and Latin elegiacs follow strict metrical patterns.
• His collection included several moving elegiacs about his homeland.