decasyllable

American  

[dek-uh-sil-uh-buhl] / ˈdɛk əˌsɪl ə bəl /

noun

1. a word or line of verse of ten syllables.

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decasyllable British  

/ ˌdɛkəsɪˈlæbɪk, ˈdɛkəˌsɪləbəl /

noun

1. a word or line of verse consisting of ten syllables

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Other Word Forms

• decasyllabic adjective
• nondecasyllable noun

Etymology

Origin of decasyllable

First recorded in 1830–40; deca- + syllable

Example Sentences

He treated the Alexandrine of Corneille exactly as Pope treated the decasyllable of Dryden, and as Virgil treated the hexameter of Lucretius.

From A Short History of French Literature by Saintsbury, George

The salut d'amour is a kind of epistle, sometimes of very great length and usually in octosyllabic verse, the decasyllable being more commonly used in the Chanson.

From A Short History of French Literature by Saintsbury, George

Besides the sonnet, he introduced into England blank verse, which he borrowed from the Italian versi sciolti, fixing that decasyllable iambic rhythm for English versification in which our greatest poetical triumphs have been achieved.

From Sketches and Studies in Italy and Greece, Second Series by Brown, Horatio Robert Forbes

It was the beginning of a revolution, which Ferreira completed by abandoning the hendecasyllable for the Italian decasyllable, and by composing the noble and austere 286 Roman poetry of his letters, odes and elegies.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 10, Slice 3 "Fenton, Edward" to "Finistere" by Various

Most of Shakespeare’s lines conform to the normal type of the decasyllable, and the rest are accounted for by familiar and rational rules of variation.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Slice 1 "Bisharin" to "Bohea" by Various