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 pianist is playing a nocturne, a lovely bit of night music.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 29, 2026

The ensemble backdrop is crystalline, misty sighs, while the solo cello line expands into melancholy arias without words; sometimes the tone is passionate, dark-hued nocturne, sometimes ethereal lullaby.

From New York Times • Jan. 1, 2021

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

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