pentameter

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pen·tam·e·ter

(pĕn-tăm′ĭ-tər)

1. Verse written in lines of five metrical feet.

2. A single line of such verse.

[Latin, from Greek pentametros : penta-, penta- + metron, measure; see meter¹.]

pentameter

(pɛnˈtæmɪtə)

1. (Poetry) a verse line consisting of five metrical feet

2. (Poetry) (in classical prosody) a verse line consisting of two dactyls, one stressed syllable, two dactyls, and a final stressed syllable

adj

(Poetry) designating a verse line consisting of five metrical feet

pen•tam•e•ter

(pɛnˈtæm ɪ tər)
n.

1. a line of verse consisting of five metrical feet.

2. unrhymed verse of five iambic feet; English heroic verse.

adj.

3. consisting of five metrical feet.

[1540–50; < Latin pentametrus < Greek pentámetros. See penta-, meter²]

pen•tam′e•trist, n.

pentameter

a verse of five metrical feet.

pentameter

A meter of five feet to the line.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

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Noun

pentameter - a verse line having five metrical feet

verse line, verse - a line of metrical text

Translations

pentametro

pentameter

[penˈtæmɪtəʳ] N → pentámetro m

pentameter

n → Pentameter m

pentameter

[pɛntˈæmɪtəʳ] n → pentametro

References in classic literature ?

Even so, several of them do not really belong to the series; composed in stanza forms, they are selected from his earlier poems and here pressed into service, and on the average they are less excellent than those which he wrote for their present places (in the rimed pentameter couplet that he adopted from the French).

His stanza combinations reproduce all the well-proportioned grace of his French models, and to the pentameter riming couplet of his later work he gives the perfect ease and metrical variety which match the fluent thought.

View in context

Your stool limps like one of Martial's distiches; it has one hexameter leg and one pentameter leg.

View in context

It follows a fourth series that included an episode written eS ntirely in iambic pentameter and a murder mystery told in reverse chronological order.

Fifth series for Inside No. 9

Whitman pushed past the standard pentameter line but not so far as to lose the gravitational pull of the standard ten syllables.

C. K. Williams. Selected Later Poems

An iambic pentameter here completes one line and begins another.

Marina Tarlinskaja. Shakespeare and the Versification of English Drama, 1561-1642

He uses the form of unrhymed pentameter in paragraph-like stanzas.

Civil War

Iambic pentameter is a fairly precise form; so much so that the inclusion of just one word (in the above case, 'just') can throw off the beat.

The Little Parrot and the Angel's Tears

Its pulsing pentameter sustains the voice of a marvelously vivid character, alternately eerie and moving.

2013 Morton Marr Poetry Prize

The twist that makes it both interesting (and maddening for some) is that the story is retold in iambic pentameter, the type of verse in which Shakespeare wrote his plays.

Doescher, Ian. William Shakespeare's Star Wars

The result is a fun retelling that will appeal to Star Wars buffs and Shakespeare students alike: a fun reimagined tale told in iambic pentameter that takes Luke, Han, R2D2 and more and sets their concerns and personalities to ancient language.

William Shakespeare's Star Wars

SHAKESPEARE can be confusing at the best of times with cross-dressing characters, olde English and iambic pentameter but the RSC - that is Reduced Shakespeare Company - aim to make everything easier.