tetrameter

[ te-tram-i-ter ]

/ tɛˈtræm ɪ tər /

noun

Prosody. a verse of four feet.

Classical Prosody. a line consisting of four dipodies in trochaic, iambic, or anapestic meter.

adjective

Prosody. consisting of four metrical feet.

QUIZZES

How Hip Is Your Lingo? Take Our Slang Quiz!

If you aren’t already skilled in slang, then this quiz can get you up to speed in no time!

Question 1 of 11

OK Boomer can be perceived as pejorative, but it is mostly considered to be _____

a slang word for astronauts that originated in the 1950s.

a comment toward the Baby Boomer generation that is humorous or ironic in usage.

an obsolete slang term about people who speak loudly.

TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT

Origin of tetrameter

1605–15; < Latin tetrametrus < Greek tetrámetros having four measures. See tetra-, meter²

Words nearby tetrameter

tetralite, tetralogy, tetralogy of fallot, tetramer, tetramerous, tetrameter, tetramethyldiarsine, tetramethyllead, tetrandrous, tetranitrate, tetraparesis

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2020

Example sentences from the Web for tetrameter

In its highest order, the lyric or 'ode,' it is a tetrameter, the line having the time of eight iambics.
English Verse|Raymond MacDonald Alden, Ph.D.
It is called a tetrameter, and consists of fifteen syllables (mostly —∪, called trochees).
The Faust-Legend and Goethe's 'Faust'|H. B. Cotterill
A tetrameter brachycatalectic in both sections may also be broken up either by leonine or by inserted rhyme.
A History of English Versification|Jakob Schipper
A stanza made up of tetrameter alternating with trimeter is very common.
English: Composition and Literature|W. F. (William Franklin) Webster

In its highest order, the lyric or “ode,” it is a tetrameter, the line having the time of eight iambics.
The Unknown Eros|Coventry Patmore

British Dictionary definitions for tetrameter

tetrameter

/ (tɛˈtræmɪtə) /

noun prosody

a line of verse consisting of four metrical feet

a verse composed of such lines

(in classical prosody) a line of verse composed of four dipodies

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