spondee
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of spondee
1350–1400; Middle English sponde < Latin spondēus < Greek spondeîos, derivative of spondḗ libation
Explanation
In a poem, a two-syllable unit of text that's pronounced with equal stress on both syllables is a spondee. Words like "childhood" and "woodchuck" are usually pronounced as spondees. Like the iamb, the anapest, and the dactyl, a spondee is a metrical foot. Rather than structuring the meter of an entire poem, a spondee is more likely to show up as an irregular foot, altering the rhythm or adding interest to a line. If you read a poem out loud at a high volume, and you hear yourself placing equal emphasis on two syllables in a row, you might have found a spondee. Congratulations!
Vocabulary lists containing spondee
Some Helpful Poetry Terms
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Poetry: Structure and Meter
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Reading: Literature - Poetry - High School
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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 poetic terms, the name is a spondee, two syllables in a row that claim equal force, disrupting the lilt of ordinary speech, like a command or a shout: Shut up, no way, get out.
From New York Times ● Sep. 11, 2019
It was a metrically auspicious birth date — the spondee “ONE, TEN” resounding like slaps on a baby’s bottom, the anapest “twenty-EIGHT” hurtling toward the future.
From New York Times ● Feb. 15, 2015
Perhaps it's not strictly a spondee, but, in bagging a line all to itself, the word seems to insist on taking two full stresses: well come!
From The Guardian ● Mar. 29, 2010
There's a lovely contrast between the skippety dactyl of "Merry mites" and the surprising, ceremonious spondee, "Welcome".
From The Guardian ● Mar. 29, 2010
A trochee in the first foot is indicated by the figure 1 in the "T" column; a spondee in the fourth foot by the figure 4 in the "S" column; and so on.
From English Verse Specimens Illustrating its Principles and History by Alden, Raymond MacDonald
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.
