poem
Americannoun
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a composition in verse, especially one that is characterized by a highly developed artistic form and by the use of heightened language and rhythm to express an intensely imaginative interpretation of the subject.
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composition that, though not in verse, is characterized by great beauty of language or expression.
a prose poem from the Scriptures; a symphonic poem.
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something having qualities that are suggestive of or likened to those of poetry.
Marcel, that chicken cacciatore was an absolute poem.
noun
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a composition in verse, usually characterized by concentrated and heightened language in which words are chosen for their sound and suggestive power as well as for their sense, and using such techniques as metre, rhyme, and alliteration
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a literary composition that is not in verse but exhibits the intensity of imagination and language common to it
a prose poem
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anything resembling a poem in beauty, effect, etc
Etymology
Origin of poem
First recorded in 1540–50; from Latin poēma, from Greek poíēma “poem, something made,” from poiē- (variant stem of poieîn “to make”) + -ma, noun suffix
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The score is a tone poem for cascading piano, string quartet and sighing clarinet lines.
From Los Angeles Times
That all changed in September after she used an artificial intelligence song generator to transform one of her poems into a tear-jerker called “How Was I Supposed to Know?”
Its opening poem, “Digging,” feels earthbound with its low-pitched vowels: “Between my finger and my thumb / The squat pen rests; snug as a gun.”
“I always write them as poems,” he said of his lyrics in a 1973 interview with Melody Maker, the British music magazine.
From New York Times
“I find at times it makes a poem rather lethargic; you know, no drive behind it.”
From New York Times
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
