swan song
noun
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Swans don't sing. They whistle or trumpet, or in the case of the swan most common in ponds, the mute swan, they only hiss and snort. But according to ancient legend, the swan does sing one beautiful song in its life-just before it dies. References in English to the dying swan's lovely singing go back as far as Chaucer, but the term swan song itself didn't appear in the language until the 1830s, when Thomas Carlyle used it in Sartor Resartus. Carlyle probably based his "swan song" on the German version of the term, which is Schwanengesang or Schwanenlied.
Examples of swan song in a Sentence
Pamela McClintock, The Hollywood Reporter, 15 Apr. 2024
What a MipTV swan song, bulwarked by Canneseries, can deliver, is another question.
—John Hopewell, Variety, 5 Apr. 2024
Layne Staley’s haunting swan song Staley’s final years were, by all accounts, a tragic descent into addiction and depression.
—Spin Contributor, SPIN, 22 Mar. 2024
The 2024 season is set to be the A's swan song in Oakland.
—Becky Sullivan, NPR, 31 Mar. 2024
His response to the tragedy would become his Texas swan song, which one resident there described as his finest hour.
—Genna Contino, Charlotte Observer, 28 Mar. 2024
Roxy Music’s 1979 return, Manifesto, became their highest charting American LP (No. 23 on the Billboard 200), while their studio swan song, 1982’s Avalon – a lush, atmospheric piece of sophisticated pop – is frequently listed as one of the greatest albums of all time.
—Joe Lynch, Billboard, 25 Mar. 2024
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse One should not underestimate the power of the Disney/Pixar bloc of voters in the Academy, which will support Elemental, or the international admiration for anime master Hayao Miyazaki, which could boost his probable swan song The Boy and the Heron.
—David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 6 Mar. 2024
As the four-time Grammy-winning artist prepares for his swan song, his partnership with Fundación Hermes Music through the Guitarras Por La Paz (Guitars for Peace) campaign will continue to underline the Monterrey artist’s dedication to harnessing music as a vehicle for peace.
—Isabela Raygoza, Billboard, 28 Feb. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'swan song.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near swan song
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“Swan song.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/swan%20song. Accessed 18 Apr. 2024.
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