adjective
noun
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Etymology
Origin of dactylic
1580–90; < Latin dactylicus < Greek daktylikós. See dactyl, -ic
Vocabulary lists containing dactylic
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.
It is said that Meechan’s fellow satirist, Juvenal, issued a similar warning to ancient Greek critics, infuriated by his cavalier use of the dactylic hexameter, in the second century AD.
From The Guardian ● May 26, 2019
Written in sprightly dactylic couplets, The Gashlycrumb Tinies was inspired, said Gorey, by “those 19th century cautionary tales, I guess, though my book is punishment without misbehavior.”
From Slate ● Nov. 14, 2018
As such, it’s particularly difficult to adapt to dactylic hexameter, the waltzlike, oom-pah-pah meter of epic poetry, which the Romans inherited from the Greeks.
From The New Yorker ● Oct. 8, 2018
Homer composed the “Odyssey” in dactylic hexameter, the six-beat meter that gives the poem its elevated oom-pah-pah, oom-pah-pah cadence.
From New York Times ● Sep. 18, 2017
Orchest. under διποδία, διαποδισμὸς ποδίκρα.1603.Perhaps it was connected with the trochaic dipodia, which appears to have been the common metre in these choral songs, though mixed with cretics, spondees, dactylic, and logaœdic verses.1604.Aristoph.
From The History and Antiquities of the Doric Race, Vol. 2 of 2 by Karl Otfried Müller
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