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.
The thesis becomes a triseme if the next syllable bears the ictus.
From English Verse Specimens Illustrating its Principles and History by Raymond MacDonald Alden
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
They must contain good mouth-filling words, with the vowels in the right place, and the rhythmic ictus at proper distances for chest and hand to keep true time.
From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 02, No. 09, July, 1858 by Various
"If the arsis is monosyllabic, a short vowel in the thesis followed by a single consonant is not lengthened by the ictus; the arsis is instead prolonged."
From English Verse Specimens Illustrating its Principles and History by Raymond MacDonald Alden
Havena I missed the chance to turn out as clarissimus an ictus, as auld Grunwiggin himself?—Whatfor dinna ye speak, Mr. Butler?
From The Heart of Mid-Lothian, Volume 2 by Sir Walter Scott
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.
