Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Consisting of iambs or characterized by their predominance.
- noun An iamb.
- noun A verse, stanza, or poem written in iambs.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Pertaining to the iambus; employing iambics: as, iambic meter; an iambic poet.
- Consisting of an iambus, or of iambics: as, an iambic foot; an iambic verse or poem.
- noun In prosody: Same as
iambus - noun Averse or metrical period consisting of iambi.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective (Pros.) Consisting of a short syllable followed by a long one, or of an unaccented syllable followed by an accented.
- adjective Pertaining to, or composed of, iambics
- noun An iambic foot; an iambus.
- noun A verse composed of iambic feet.
- noun A satirical poem (such poems having been anciently written in iambic verse); a satire; a lampoon.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective Prosody Consisting of
iambs orcharacterized by theirpredominance - noun prosody An
iamb ; A line or group of lines of iambs.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective of or consisting of iambs
- noun a verse line consisting of iambs
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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In this poem the feet are iambic and there are four of them, consequently we name the meter of this poem _iambic tetrameter_.
Journeys Through Bookland, Vol. 7 Charles Herbert Sylvester
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"The twilight hours like birds flew by," is made up of four iambic feet, and is therefore an _iambic tetrameter_.
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But I hope it shows that what we call iambic pentameter is really, if you count the rest the way you must count it, a kind of slow waltz rhythm.
THE ANTHOLOGIST Nicholson Baker 2009
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But I hope it shows that what we call iambic pentameter is really, if you count the rest the way you must count it, a kind of slow waltz rhythm.
THE ANTHOLOGIST Nicholson Baker 2009
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A poem of 14 lines in iambic pentameter, which follows the rhyme scheme abab cdcd efefgg.
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I also left wanting to speak extemporaneously in iambic pentameter, but that is Shagspeare's fault.
Macbeth joshenglish 2009
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When you've got a couple of top-five New York Times best sellers under your belt and you want to do a five hundred page exploration of terrorism in iambic pentameter, go for it.
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In your graduate studies, did you find out why most of her poetry was written in iambic tetrameter?
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A poem of 14 lines in iambic pentameter, which follows the rhyme scheme abab cdcd efefgg.
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Written in iambic tetrameter, it is better known today by the title “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day.”
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