hexameter

[ hek-sam-i-ter ]

noun

1. a dactylic line of six feet, as in Greek and Latin epic poetry, in which the first four feet are dactyls or spondees, the fifth is ordinarily a dactyl, and the last is a trochee or spondee, with a caesura usually following the long syllable in the third foot.
2. any line of verse in six feet, as in English poetry.

adjective

1. consisting of six metrical feet.

hexameter

/ hɛkˈsæmɪtə; ˌhɛksəˈmɛtrɪk /

noun

1. a verse line consisting of six metrical feet
2. (in Greek and Latin epic poetry) a verse line of six metrical feet, of which the first four are usually dactyls or spondees, the fifth almost always a dactyl, and the sixth a spondee or trochee

Derived Forms

• hexametric, adjective

Other Words From

• hex·a·met·ric [hek-s, uh, -, me, -trik], hexa·metri·cal hex·ame·tral adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of hexameter¹

1540–50; < Latin < Greek hexámetros of six measures, equivalent to hexa- hexa- + métr ( on ) measure + -os adj. suffix

Example Sentences

The tone of “Memnon,” written in iambic hexameter, is direct, spare and cast in a tense of tragic inevitability.

From Los Angeles Times

It is typical of the interdisciplinary nature of Fracastoro’s interests that his most well-known work should be a Latin poem, composed in hexameter and infused with mythology, about a contagious disease.

From Scientific American

Nowhere is this poetic syncretism more evident than in the title poem, an honor song to the Kiowa warrior and chief laid forth in elegant iambic hexameter.

From Seattle Times

That script is three lines of verse, two in dactylic hexameter, the metre of epic verse.

From The Guardian

The subtle hexameter on that last line—one beat beyond the blank-verse norm—suggests the burden on the now established poet, above and beyond the standard of his art.

From The New Yorker