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

The shorter length of the decasyllable line is not altogether a disadvantage to the translator.

From Project Gutenberg

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 Project Gutenberg

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 Project Gutenberg

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

From Project Gutenberg

Both doggerel and fourteeners appear in the quaint productions called Three Ladies of London, etc.; but by this time the decasyllable began to appear with them and to edge them out.

From Project Gutenberg