Adonic

American  

[uh-don-ik] / əˈdɒn ɪk /

adjective

1. Prosody. noting a verse consisting of a dactyl () followed by a spondee () or trochee ().

2. of or like Adonis.

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noun

1. Prosody. an Adonic verse or line.

Adonic British  

/ əˈdəʊnɪk /

adjective

1. (in classical prosody) of or relating to a verse line consisting of a dactyl (¯˘˘) followed by a spondee (––) or by a trochee (¯˘), thought to have been first used in laments for Adonis

2. of or relating to Adonis

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noun

1. an Adonic line or verse

Etymology

Origin of Adonic

From the Medieval Latin word Adōnicus, dating back to 1670–80. See Adonis, -ic

Example Sentences

A warlike song in Sapphic and Adonic stanzas created a more favourable impression.

From Recollections of My Youth by Renan, Ernest

Of these the four-syllable type seems to me the one to be preferred, as giving the effect of the Adonic better than if it had been two syllables longer.

From The Odes and Carmen Saeculare of Horace by Conington, John

Abandoning the usual arrangement in stanzas of three lesser Sapphics followed by an Adonic verse, his Sapphic choruses consist almost entirely of the lesser Sapphic varied by a very occasional Adonic.

From Post-Augustan Poetry From Seneca to Juvenal by Butler, Harold Edgeworth