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tetrasyllable

American  
[te-truh-sil-uh-buhl, te-truh-sil-] / ˈtɛ trəˌsɪl ə bəl, ˌtɛ trəˈsɪl- /

noun

  1. a word or line of verse of four syllables.

tetrasyllable British  
/ ˌtɛtrəˈsɪləbəl, ˌtɛtrəsɪˈlæbɪk /

noun

  1. a word of four syllables

"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

Other Word Forms

  • tetrasyllabic adjective
  • tetrasyllabical adjective

Etymology

Origin of tetrasyllable

First recorded in 1580–90; tetra- + syllable

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.

His eyes are deep-set and uncommonly circular; when he stretches them into surprise—often in accompaniment of a spiked tetrasyllable like “ri-di-cu-lous,” or “pre-pos-ter-ous,” or “Max Kel-ler-man”—they are perfect O’s.

From The New Yorker • Jun. 18, 2018

"One is monosyllabic, the other tetrasyllable," Spindrift begins.

From Time Magazine Archive

Each line ends with a trisyllable or a tetrasyllable, with dissyllabic rhyme running through the quatrain.

From The Latin & Irish Lives of Ciaran Translations Of Christian Literature. Series V. Lives Of The Celtic Saints by MacAlister, R.A. Stewart

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.