fugue
fugue
Pronunciation
Phonetic Spelling and Syllable Breakdown
The IPA phonetic spelling for the English word "fugue" is /fjuːɡ/.
Syllable Sounds Breakdown
fugue (/fjuːɡ/) - This word is a single syllable.
Onset: /f/ (voiceless labiodental fricative)
Nucleus: /juː/ (a sequence of the high front rounded glide followed by a long high back rounded vowel, often realized as a diphthong like [ju] or [ɪu], but commonly transcribed simply as /juː/)
Coda: /ɡ/ (voiced velar stop)
Word Form Variations
The term "fugue" primarily functions as a noun and a verb.
Noun Forms:
Singular: fugue
Plural: fugues
Verb Forms (to fugue):
Base/Infinitive: fugue
Third-person singular present: fugues
Present participle: fuguing
Past tense: fugued
Past participle: fugued
Definitions, Synonyms and Antonyms
The following definitions are grouped by the part of speech.
Noun
A Musical Composition: A contrapuntal composition in which a short melodic phrase, or subject, is introduced by one part and successively taken up by others and developed by interweaving the parts.
Synonyms: canon, contrapuntal piece, round (less formally)
Antonyms: monophony, homophony, unison
A Psychological State: A state of abnormal consciousness during which a person seems to behave purposefully but later has no memory of the period, often involving travel or wandering away from one's home. It is a dissociative disorder.
Synonyms: amnesia, dissociation, trance, daze
Antonyms: awareness, consciousness, recollection, lucidity
Verb
To Compose/Perform Music: To compose or perform music in the style of a fugue.
Synonyms: compose, interweave, counterpoint
Antonyms: harmonize (in a non-fugual way), simplify, unite (melodically)
To Enter a Psychological State: To enter into a dissociative fugue state; to wander or travel while experiencing memory loss.
Synonyms: dissociate, wander, stray, zone out
Antonyms: focus, remember, orient, be conscious
Examples of Use
🎼 Musical and Literary Usage
The term often refers to the polyphonic musical form or a literary style that imitates its structure of voices and themes.
Classical Music: Johann Sebastian Bach’s famous incomplete work is titled "The Art of Fugue" (Die Kunst der Fuge, published 1751), which remains the pinnacle example of the form.
Contemporary Music: The rock band Emerson, Lake & Palmer had a short solo piano tune titled "Fugue" on their 1972 album, Trilogy, featuring a fugue-like form of theme restatement and harmonization via counterpoint.
Literature/Books: The structure of James Joyce's "Sirens" episode in his novel Ulysses (1922) is frequently cited by critics as a "literary fugue," for its interweaving themes and recurring "leitmotivs" (Amy Arthur, Literary Matters, October 2018).
Book Title: The novel Underground Fugue by Margot Singer (2017) uses the term in its title and structure, where a main subject is introduced, and then the lives of four characters take up the theme, developing individual, overlapping stories like musical voices.
Literary Analysis: The novel Open City by Teju Cole features a narrator who describes his nightly reading and listening habits as a "sonic fugue," noting the way his voice mingled with radio announcers and orchestral music, creating an immersive, layered sensory experience (July 2021).
🧠 Psychological and News Usage
In psychology, the term is used in the clinical phrase dissociative fugue, referring to a temporary state of amnesia and unexpected travel.
News/Case Reports: The story of Jeff Ingram, who appeared in Denver in 2006 with no memory of his past, was widely reported by news outlets like CBS News and others, describing the incident as an instance of dissociative fugue brought on by severe stress. He later had a recurrence of the amnesic wandering in 2007 (October 2006).
Historical Figures: The disappearance of crime writer Agatha Christie in 1926 was a national news event. When she was found having checked into a hotel under an assumed name, her subsequent behavior was explained by her doctors at the time as a possible "fugue state" (as noted in Psychology Today, March 2012).
Clinical Research: Publications like Cleveland Clinic define and explain the condition, noting that dissociative fugue is a symptom where a person with memory loss travels or wanders, leaving them confused and in an unfamiliar setting (June 2024).
💻 Entertainment and Public Discourse
The word is used in a range of media, from film to television and games, often in reference to the psychological disorder.
Television: The character Walter White on the series Breaking Bad (Season 2, Episode 3) fakes a "fugue state" as an alibi to explain his mysterious disappearance to his family.
Film: The psychological thriller Lost Highway (1997) by David Lynch is noted for exploring the themes and psychological effects of the dissociative fugue disorder.
Video Games: The character Fugue in the game Honkai: Star Rail is named after the disorder and suffers from amnesia as her previous identity was stolen (October 2025).
10 Famous Quotes Using Fugue
"The final, unfinished fugue from The Art of Fugue is the greatest piece of music ever composed." (Glenn Gould)
"The history of knowledge is a great fugue in which the voices of the nations one after the other emerge." (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe)
"A great piece of music is beautiful regardless of how it is performed: Any prelude or fugue of Bach can be played at any tempo, with or without rhythmic nuances, and it will still be great music." (Dmitri Shostakovich)
"For the past eighty years I have started each day in the same manner... I go to the piano, and I play two preludes and fugues of Bach." (Pablo Casals)
"The prophesying business is like writing fugues; it is fatal to every one save the man of absolute genius." (H. L. Mencken)
"The worst constructed play is a Bach fugue when compared to life." (Helen Hayes, 1968)
"It's like a fugue of evaded responsibility." (David Foster Wallace)
"The blues are like the fugue in 18th century. It's probably the music that belongs most to our time." (Michael Tippett)
"I want Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D played at my funeral." (Sybil Thorndike)
"In every question and every remark tossed back and forth between lovers who have not played out the last fugue, there is one question and it is this: Is there someone new?" (Edna O'Brien)
Etymology
The English word "fugue" comes directly from Latin and its etymology is tied to the concept of flight, fleeing, or chasing.
🏃 Origins and Meaning
Latin Root: The word originates from the Latin term fuga, meaning "flight," "running away," or "escape." The verb form is fugere, meaning "to flee."
Italian Influence: The term passed into Italian as fuga, where it took on a specific meaning in music during the 16th century: a compositional procedure where one melodic line seems to "chase" another.
🎶 First Known Use and Meaning
The word's first known specialized meaning was in musical composition around the late 16th century.
Initial Musical Meaning: It was used to describe a piece of music (like a canon or ricercar) in which a short theme (the subject) is introduced in one voice and then immediately fled from and chased by subsequent voices, creating a densely interwoven texture.
Modern Psychological Meaning: The application of "fugue" to a psychological state—a temporary loss of identity and bewildered wandering (known as dissociative fugue)—is a metaphorical use that came much later, in the 19th century. This meaning also directly relates to the Latin root of "flight" or "running away" from one's life or identity.
So, in simple terms, whether you are listening to a Bach fugue or talking about a person in a fugue state, the core idea is the flight of a subject—a musical theme or a person's consciousness—which is quickly taken up by or leads to a chase.
Phrases + Idioms Containing Fugue
The word "fugue" is primarily used in its literal, technical senses (music and psychology), so common, everyday idioms are rare. The following list includes the standard technical phrases and supplements them with lesser-known and original metaphorical uses.
Technical and Established Phrases
To write a fugue: (Literal, music) To compose a piece of music using the fugal structure.
Dissociative fugue: (Literal, psychology) A psychological disorder involving amnesia and wandering.
In a fugue state: (Technical/General Discourse) To be experiencing a dissociative state of mind, often implying confusion, automatism, or a loss of identity.
The art of the fugue: (Literal, music) A direct reference to Bach's famous incomplete work, often used to refer to mastery of complex counterpoint.
Fugal subject: (Literal, music) The main melodic theme introduced at the beginning of a fugue.
Metaphorical and Original Phrases
A fugue of voices: (Metaphorical) Used to describe a complex, interwoven, and sometimes confusing stream of multiple, distinct opinions or narratives, particularly in literature or public debate.
To enter a conversational fugue: (Original) To engage in a discussion where points, arguments, or topics are introduced and then taken up, repeated, and debated sequentially by various people in the manner of a musical fugue.
The fugue of memory: (Original/Literary) A reference to the way certain memories or motifs return, overlap, and evolve in the mind, especially after trauma or in a novel.
In a mental fugue: (Lesser-known) To be deeply focused or concentrated to the point of temporary detachment from the surroundings; a daze or flow state.
A political fugue: (Original) A chaotic or prolonged period where a government or organization appears to be operating without clear direction or memory of its past commitments, constantly "fleeing" accountability.
Vocabulary-Based Stories from SEA
Source Information
Definition of fugue from The Academic Glossary at Self Exploration Academy, a Urikville Press Publication. © All rights reserved.
