anapest

or an·a·paest

[ an-uh-pest ]

noun

, Prosody.

1. a foot of three syllables, two short followed by one long in quantitative meter, and two unstressed followed by one stressed in accentual meter, as in for the nonce.

Other Words From

• ana·pestic ana·paestic adjective
• ana·pesti·cal·ly ana·paesti·cal·ly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of anapest¹

1580–90; < Latin anapaestus < Greek anápaistos struck back, reversed (as compared with a dactyl), equivalent to ana- ana- + pais- (variant stem of paíein to strike) + -tos past participle suffix

Example Sentences

Not that one needs to know an anapest from a trochee to enjoy the genre.

From Seattle Times

Five iambs and an anapest was the beat he tramped to now.

From Literature

It was a metrically auspicious birth date — the spondee “ONE, TEN” resounding like slaps on a baby’s bottom, the anapest “twenty-EIGHT” hurtling toward the future.

From New York Times

“Electron” was the word she settled on to describe herself, emphasizing the last syllable, the word drawn out into a Gallic anapest.

From New York Times

Pertaining to an anapest; consisting of an anapests; as, an anapestic meter, foot, verse.

From Project Gutenberg