iamb

American  

[ahy-am, ahy-amb] / ˈaɪ æm, ˈaɪ æmb /

noun

Prosody.

1. a foot of two syllables, a short followed by a long in quantitative meter, or an unstressed followed by a stressed in accentual meter, as in Come live / with me / and be / my love.

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iamb British  

/ ˈaɪæm, ˈaɪæmb, aɪˈæmbəs /

noun

1. a metrical foot consisting of two syllables, a short one followed by a long one ( )

2. a line of verse of such feet

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Etymology

Origin of iamb

First recorded in 1835–45; short for iambus

Explanation

In poetry, an iamb is part of a line that's made up of a short syllable followed by a long syllable. In an iamb, the stress is always on the second syllable. Not all poetry uses iambs, but they lend a very specific, deliberate kind of rhythm and meter when they are used. Iambs show up in multiple forms, including "iambic pentameter," otherwise known as five iambs in a row, seen here in Tennyson's "Ulysses:" "To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield." The stressed syllables in this line are "strive, seek, find, not," and "yield." One individual iamb is "to seek."

Example Sentences

All I can say is, iamb happy to have been there for it.

From Washington Post • Nov. 17, 2022

That’s the spirit of the terrible, wonderful “Desperate Measures”: Have iamb, will travel.

From New York Times • Oct. 16, 2017

Standing at the front of the book, that final iamb, so exquisitely delayed, serves as an introduction to a style that puts profound weight on individual words.

From Slate • Jun. 7, 2013

For empty sound the rascal swore he Existence would not make a curse, Knew not an iamb from a choree, Although we read him heaps of verse.

From Eugene Oneguine [Onegin] A Romance of Russian Life in Verse by Spalding, Henry

And since no such definite musical valuation can be given to English feet, a Greek iamb and an English iamb are obviously different.

From The Principles of English Versification by Baum, Paull Franklin