nocturne

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

The movements that follow are arboreal portraits in music: a puckish, dancing duet for the bassoon and a violin; a mysterious nocturne; curlicue phrases choked into fragments; and patient brooding.

From New York Times • Feb. 8, 2022

For various reasons, I was expected to deliver a longish address at my high-school graduation, and after composing it—the easy part—I turned to a speech therapist and rehearsed as if it were a Chopin nocturne.

From Slate • Dec. 6, 2017

“And then something will surface. I just wrote my first real classical piece, a nocturne for piano and orchestra. I hope I get it played here sometime.”

From The New Yorker • May 1, 2017

Chopin may have perfected the piano nocturne, but he didn’t invent it.

From Washington Post • Jul. 7, 2016

She got my bathrobe for me, and then she dried my hair with those powerful fingers of hers as gently as she might coax a nocturne from our old piano.

From "Jacob Have I Loved" by Katherine Paterson