hexameter

noun

hex·​am·​e·​ter hek-ˈsa-mə-tər 

: a line of verse consisting of six metrical feet

Example Sentences

Recent Examples on the Web

On the other, the Satires and Epistles, loose, talky poems written, like the Ars, in dactylic hexameter. —Gregory Hays, The New York Review of Books, 27 May 2020

More specifically, a grammatically- and rhythmically-correct line of dactylic hexameter, the kind used by Virgil and Ovid. —Leah Henrickson, Slate Magazine, 29 Aug. 2017

Sarah Ruden took upon herself the Herculean task of translating Virgil line-by-line, in iambic pentameter, the normative rhythm of English verse, as dactylic hexameter is of ancient epic. —Willard Spiegelman, WSJ, 22 Sep. 2017

With one, epic style — stage behavior was often tender, intimate — was established primarily by musical meter, as grand, propulsive and firm as the hexameters of Homer. —Alastair Macaulay, New York Times, 15 Sep. 2016

Word History

Etymology

Latin, from Greek hexametron, from neuter of hexametros having six measures, from hexa- + metron measure — more at measure

First Known Use

1546, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

hexameter

noun

hex·​am·​e·​ter hek-ˈsam-ət-ər 

: a line of verse consisting of six metrical feet