Definition of "threnody" [thren•o•dy]

• A poem or song of mourning or lamentation. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Now I know there are a lot of words that will be used between storied, but threnody is a sufficiently unusual one as to catch my attention."
• "Now for those of us who do not know what that word means right off hand (I had to look it up as I was reading a passage from Ralph Waldo Emerson long ago), a threnody is a song or hymn inspired by the grief of losing someone you love."
• "As written, the diphthongization is a kind of threnody in its own right."