How to Use torch song in a Sentence

torch song

noun
  • The title track, written by Rose Cousins as a torch song, is rendered here as a plea for collective ablution.
    — Giovanni Russonello, New York Times, 8 Sep. 2017
  • Perhaps more than any other song on her debut, the intimate torch song puts the then-20-year-old newcomer’s vocal prowess on full display.
    — Billboard Staff, Billboard, 5 Oct. 2020
  • On this bleak torch song from Dangerous Woman, Gray plays Grande’s conscience, begging her to walk away from a toxic lover.
    — Richard S. He, Billboard, 27 Apr. 2018
  • James Blake sometimes feels like pop music’s arch, ultra-serious older brother, floating above the scene with warbly torch songs that never quite come down to earth.
    — Andrew Ryce, Pitchfork, 12 Mar. 2026
  • Angel Olsen jumping on the piano and playing a beautiful torch song at Capitol Studios to show what reverb does, too.
    — Liam Hess, Vogue, 4 Aug. 2021
  • The baroquest of Bond films; there’s a deep melancholy under all the lavish action, right down to Nancy Sinatra’s bone-chilling torch song.
    — Rob Sheffield, Rolling Stone, 2 Oct. 2021
  • Four bars later, Debussy falls back on a stark E-minor chord that has a vaguely medieval quality, as if this torch song of the future were being performed in a cold room in an ancient castle.
    — Alex Ross, The New Yorker, 27 Apr. 2020
  • There’s almost always a Disney torch song, a pop star trying to break the mold, and a tune by Diane Warren, who has been nominated 12 times now with no wins so far.
    — Kory Grow, Rolling Stone, 23 Apr. 2021
  • The arrangements vary, from ambient electronica and Appalachian Gothic to contemporary torch song and bluegrass gospel, with scarcely a hint of Cash’s trademark freight-train rhythms.
    — Bill Friskics-Warren, New York Times, 3 Apr. 2018

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'torch song.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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