adjective
Etymology
Origin of spondaic
1715–25; < Late Latin spondaicus, metathetic variant of spondīacus < Greek spondeiakós, equivalent to spondeî ( os ) spondee + -akos, variant of -ikos -ic
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.
There is in its slow spondaic movement an eternity of tears.
From Project Gutenberg
But in both cases I preferred to lock up by the massy spondaic variety; yet never forgetting to premise a dancing dactyle—'many a'—and 'pinion of.'
From Project Gutenberg
In the series of dactylic lines 17-22, Catullus no doubt intended to convey the idea of rapidity, as, in the spondaic line immediately following, of labour.
From Project Gutenberg
All the chorals that carry it have substantially the same movement—for the spondaic accent of the long lines is compulsory—but their offerings sing “to one clear harp in divers tones.”
From Project Gutenberg
If a line ends with two spondees it is a spondaic hexameter.
From Project Gutenberg
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.