enjambment
[ en-jam-muhnt, -jamb- ]
/ ɛnˈdʒæm mənt, -ˈdʒæmb- /
noun, plural en·jamb·ments [en-jam-muhnts, -jamb-]. /ɛnˈdʒæm mənts, -ˈdʒæmb-/. Prosody.
the running on of the thought from one line, couplet, or stanza to the next without a syntactical break: Enjambment is a creative device of long standing, famously used by Homer, Shakespeare, and Eliot, among many other literary luminaries.
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Origin of enjambment
OTHER WORDS FROM enjambment
en·jambed, adjectiveWords nearby enjambment
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Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2020
Example sentences from the Web for enjambment
The piece is vigorous, if not quite Clevelandish in the presence of some enjambment, and the absence of extravagant conceit.
Minor Poets of the Caroline Period, Vol III|John ClevelandEnjambment, en-jamb′ment, n. in verse, the continuation of a sentence beyond the end of the line.
Now Bartels points out that in Layamons verse there is no enjambment and no beginning of a clause in the middle of a half-line.
British Dictionary definitions for enjambment
enjambment
enjambement
/ (ɪnˈdʒæmmənt, French ɑ̃ʒɑ̃bmɑ̃) /
noun
prosody the running over of a sentence from one line of verse into the next
Derived forms of enjambment
enjambed, adjectiveWord Origin for enjambment
C19: from French, literally: a straddling, from enjamber to straddle, from en- 1 + jambe leg; see jamb
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