iambic pentameter

Cultural  

1. The most common meter in English verse. It consists of a line ten syllables long that is accented on every second beat (see blank verse). These lines in iambic pentameter are from The Merchant of Venice, by William Shakespeare:

   ĭn sóoth,/ĭ knów/nŏt whý/ĭ ám/sŏ sád.

   ĭt wéa/riĕs mé;/yŏu sáy/ĭt wéa/riĕs yóu….

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Example Sentences

Other decisions are matters of policy: Should a translator preserve Shakespeare’s iambic pentameter?

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 22, 2026

The pair haven't been afraid to experiment over the years, having produced an entirely silent episode, one all in iambic pentameter and now, in the final series, an episode filmed from a doorbell camera.

From BBC • May 4, 2024

But LLMs have also managed to ace the bar exam, explain the Higgs boson in iambic pentameter, and make an attempt to break up their users’ marriage.

From Scientific American • May 11, 2023

There’s something about Shakespeare and the language that, as a Black performer, I naturally get: the rhythms, the scansion, the iambic pentameter.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 12, 2022

Penelope was far too preoccupied with worry to notice how the five ga-dongs made a perfect line of iambic pentameter, which only goes to show how extremely worried she was.

From "The Interrupted Tale" by Maryrose Wood