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disyllable

American  
[dahy-sil-uh-buhl, dahy-sil-, dih-] / ˈdaɪˌsɪl ə bəl, daɪˈsɪl-, dɪ- /

noun

  1. a word of two syllables.


disyllable British  
/ ˈdaɪsɪləbəl, ˌdɪ-, dɪˈsɪl- /

noun

  1. a variant of dissyllable

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

Etymology

Origin of disyllable

1580–90; di- 1 + syllable; compare Greek disýllabos of two syllables; variant dissyllable has ss < Middle French dissilabe

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.

See Examples For:

The narrower range of cadence allowed by the rule which makes every couplet regularly end in a disyllable, involves a monotony which only Ovid's immense dexterity enabled him to overcome.

From Latin Literature by J. W. (John William) Mackail

Every pentameter of the amatory poems and the first fifteen Heroides ends in a disyllable.

From The Last Poems of Ovid by Mark Bear Akrigg

In a disyllable the vowel is long by the 'apex' rule, as in 'hyphen'.

From Society for Pure English Tract 4 The Pronunciation of English Words Derived from the Latin by John Sargeaunt

The word is metrically suited to the second half of the pentameter, before the disyllable: compare Tib I ii 70 & II iii 52, Fast V 118 & V 170, and Tr II 114.

From The Last Poems of Ovid by Mark Bear Akrigg

The secret is, to draw out et into a disyllable, et-te, as the Italians do, who pronounce Latin verse, if possible, worse than we, adding a syllable to such as end with a consonant.

From Imaginary Conversations and Poems A Selection by Walter Savage Landor

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