1
: a division of a poem consisting of a series of lines arranged together in a usually recurring pattern of meter and rhyme : strophe
2
sports
: a period (such as a half or an inning) into which the duration of a game is divided
The game's prime moment wasn't the decisive and popular eighth-inning, two-run homer by Mark Bellhorn … but a sensational play by Boston's Manny Ramirez in the top of that same stanza.—
Roger Angell
Roger AngellExamples of stanza in a Sentence
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The Warriors entered the period trailing by 19 and scored 51 points in the final stanza to win.
—Nick Friedell, New York Times, 16 Oct. 2025
Such pleasurable pains, at their most chronic, or their most carnal, can keep Lang occupied for the length of a stanza.
—Anthony Lane, New Yorker, 13 Oct. 2025
After Malden Catholic cut its deficit to 28-14 midway through the stanza off a four-yard touchdown pass from Bloise to Anthony Wadland, Catholic Memorial marched right back up the field.
—Brendan Connelly, Boston Herald, 11 Oct. 2025
There’s no therapy like clawing back through both your triumphant and dismal decades and reliving them stanza by stanza, line by line, iamb by iamb.
—Via Scribner, Literary Hub, 6 Oct. 2025
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Nick Friedell, New York Times, 16 Oct. 2025
Such pleasurable pains, at their most chronic, or their most carnal, can keep Lang occupied for the length of a stanza.
—Anthony Lane, New Yorker, 13 Oct. 2025
After Malden Catholic cut its deficit to 28-14 midway through the stanza off a four-yard touchdown pass from Bloise to Anthony Wadland, Catholic Memorial marched right back up the field.
—Brendan Connelly, Boston Herald, 11 Oct. 2025
There’s no therapy like clawing back through both your triumphant and dismal decades and reliving them stanza by stanza, line by line, iamb by iamb.
—Via Scribner, Literary Hub, 6 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for stanza
Cite this Entry
“Stanza.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/stanza. Accessed 23 Oct. 2025.
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stanza
noun
stan·za
ˈstan-zə 
: a division of a poem consisting of a series of lines arranged together in a usually repeating pattern of rhythm and rhyme
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