Meaning & use
hexameter
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Meaning
nouncountabletechnical
A line of poetry made up of six metrical feet, especially the dactylic hexameter used in ancient Greek and Latin epic poems.
Grammar: Countable: you can say 'a hexameter' or 'hexameters' when talking about lines or the meter.
Patterns
- in hexameter
- write in hexameter
- dactylic hexameter
The Iliad and the Odyssey are composed in dactylic hexameter.
Students of Latin poetry must learn to scan a hexameter line.
He tried to compose an epic in hexameter, but found the rhythm difficult.
Word forms
| plural | hexameters |
|---|
Common combinations
- dactylic hexameter
- Dactylic hexameter was the standard meter for Greek and Latin epics.
- in hexameter
- The poem is written in hexameter.
- hexameter verse
- Hexameter verse has a distinctive rolling rhythm.
- scan a hexameter
- To scan a hexameter, you mark the long and short syllables.
Synonyms and how they differ
- hexapody
- A technical term for a line of six metrical feet; it is much rarer and used mainly in specialized metrics.
Word family
- hexametric adjective
- Relating to or written in hexameter.
Commonly confused: hexameter or pentameter?
hexameter vs pentameter
Pentameter has five metrical feet, while hexameter has six; iambic pentameter is common in English, dactylic hexameter in classical epic.
Practice
Which line correctly describes a poem written in hexameter?
Choose one answer.
Hexameter means six metrical feet per line. Five feet would be pentameter, and four would be tetrameter.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “hexameter”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.