stanza

[stan-zuh]

See more synonyms for stanza on Thesaurus.com

noun Prosody.

an arrangement of a certain number of lines, usually four or more, sometimes having a fixed length, meter, or rhyme scheme, forming a division of a poem.

Origin of stanza

1580–90; < Italian: room, station, stopping-place (plural stanze) < Vulgar Latin *stantia, equivalent to Latin stant- (stem of stāns), present participle of stāre to stand + -ia -y³

Related formsstan·zaed, adjectivestan·za·ic

[stan-zey-ik] /stænˈzeɪ ɪk/, stan·za·i·cal, adjectivestan·za·i·cal·ly, adverbnon·stan·za·ic, adjectiveun·stan·za·ic, adjective

Synonyms for stanza

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See verse.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for stanza

verse, refrain, strophe, division, stave

Examples from the Web for stanza

Contemporary Examples of stanza

Finally, just before the tenth stanza, a crestfallen Alvarado whispered that he was done.
Boxers, Be Brave and Quit Before Your Brain Turns to Mush
Gordon Marino
October 25, 2013
And writers seem to get it a lot, the relationship between words and page and phrase and paragraph, or stanza.
The Writer and the Potter: Edmund De Waal on his New York Debut
Iain Millar
September 12, 2013
E-book use on the iPhone exploded, with over a million downloads of the Stanza application alone.
Don't Write Off Books
Peter Osnos
April 7, 2009

Historical Examples of stanza

A stanza, the final one of that masterpiece, has been preserved.
Southern Lights and Shadows
Various
In this stanza Rhuvawn is celebrated as pious, valiant, and hospitable.
Y Gododin
Aneurin
“Nodi,” may also have reference to “nod” in the third line of the stanza.
Y Gododin
Aneurin
The eagle was probably the armorial badge of the hero of this stanza.
Y Gododin
Aneurin
That stanza, as it stands above, does not occur in any of the extant quasi-originals.
Sir Walter Scott
George Saintsbury

British Dictionary definitions for stanza

stanza

noun

prosody a fixed number of verse lines arranged in a definite metrical pattern, forming a unit of a poem
US and Australian a half or a quarter in a football match

Derived Formsstanzaed, adjectivestanzaic (stænˈzeɪɪk), adjective

Word Origin for stanza

C16: from Italian: halting place, from Vulgar Latin stantia (unattested) station, from Latin stāre to stand

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for stanza

"group of rhymed verse lines," 1580s, from Italian stanza "verse of a poem," originally "standing, stopping place," from Vulgar Latin *stantia "a stanza of verse," so called from the stop at the end of it, from Latin stans (genitive stantis), present participle of stare "to stand" (see stet).

stanza in Culture

stanza

A group of lines of verse, usually set off from other groups by a space. The stanzas of a poem often have the same internal pattern of rhymes.