- a verse line consisting of five metrical feet
- (in classical prosody) a verse line consisting of two dactyls, one stressed syllable, two dactyls, and a final stressed syllable
- designating a verse line consisting of five metrical feet
WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026
pen•tam•e•ter /pɛnˈtæmɪtɚ/USA pronunciation n.
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026- Poetry[countable] a line of verse having five metrical feet.
- Poetry[uncountable] unrhymed verse having five iambic feet.
pen•tam•e•ter
(pen tam′i tər),USA pronunciation [Pros.]
n.
adj.
pen•tam′e•trist, n.
n.
- Poetrya line of verse consisting of five metrical feet.
- PoetryAlso called elegiac pentameter. [Class. Pros.]a verse consisting of two dactyls, one long syllable, two more dactyls, and another long syllable.
- Poetryunrhymed verse of five iambic feet;
heroic verse.
adj.
- Poetryconsisting of five metrical feet.
- Greek pentámetros. See penta-, meter2
- Latin pentametrus
- 1540–50
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
pentameter /pɛnˈtæmɪtə/ n
'pentameter' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):
heroic couplet
- heroic verse
- -meter
- ottava rima
- penta-
- Sapphic
- sonnet
- Spenserian stanza
- blank verse
- elegiac
- elegiac pentameter
- elegiac stanza
- heroic poem
- heroic quatrain
- line
- meter
- rhyme royal
- Rubaiyat stanza