ictus
Americannoun
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ictuses,
plural
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ictus
plural
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Prosody. rhythmical or metrical stress.
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Pathology.
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an epileptic seizure.
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a stroke, especially a cerebrovascular accident.
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noun
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prosody metrical or rhythmic stress in verse feet, as contrasted with the stress accent on words
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med a sudden attack or stroke
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of ictus
1700–10; < Latin: stroke, thrust, equivalent to īc ( ere ) to strike with a weapon + -tus suffix of v. action
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.
In so far as a mere trick of emphasis may serve to distinguish problems, this ictus indicates the sociological starting-point.
From Introduction to the Science of Sociology by Robert Ezra Park
The lengthening of a short vowel by the ictus occurs occasionally in his verses, but almost always in words where it was originally by nature long.
From The History of Roman Literature From the earliest period to the death of Marcus Aurelius by Charles Thomas Cruttwell
Coleridge, it is true, and Scott had employed a broken rhythm, substituting the temporal for the syllabic ictus, to vary the monotony of the eight-syllabled narrative verse.
From Thomas Moore by Stephen Lucius Gwynn
Men who have yielded it are like cavalry put on the defensive; a very small force with an ictus will scatter them.
From The Egoist by George Meredith
Humida vallis raros patitur fulminis ictus, More rest enjoys the subject meanly bred Than he that bears the kingdom in his head.
From Sir Thomas More by Shakespeare (spurious and doubtful works)
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
