Library / English Dictionary

CATALECTIC

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

(prosody) a line of verse that lacks a syllable in the last metrical foot

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("catalectic" is a kind of...):

line of poetry; line of verse (a single line of words in a poem)

Domain category:

metrics; prosody (the study of poetic meter and the art of versification)

Derivation:

catalectic ((verse) metrically incomplete; especially lacking one or more syllables in the final metrical foot)

catalexis (the absence of a syllable in the last foot of a line or verse)

 II. (adjective) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

(verse) metrically incomplete; especially lacking one or more syllables in the final metrical foot

Classified under:

Adjectives

Antonym:

acatalectic ((verse) metrically complete; especially having the full number of syllables in the final metrical foot)

hypercatalectic ((verse) having an extra syllable or syllables at the end of a metrically complete verse or in a metrical foot)

Derivation:

catalectic ((prosody) a line of verse that lacks a syllable in the last metrical foot)

catalexis (the absence of a syllable in the last foot of a line or verse)

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