Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Relating to or consisting of an anapaest: Describes a metrical foot in poetry that is composed of two short or unstressed syllables followed by one long or stressed syllable.

Usage

• The term "anapaestic" is used primarily in the analysis of poetic meter (prosody) to describe the rhythmic pattern of a line or verse.
• It is an adjective form of the noun "anapaest" (or "anapest" in American English).

Examples

• Adjective:
  • The poem's anapaestic rhythm gives it a lively, galloping feel.
  • He is known for his skilled use of anapaestic meter in his comic verses.

Advanced Usage

• "Anapaestic substitution": In scansion, the temporary replacement of another metrical foot (like an iamb) with an anapaest within a line that is predominantly in a different meter.
  • The poet used an anapaestic substitution in the third line to avoid monotony.

Variants and Related Words

• Anapaest / Anapest (n): The metrical foot itself, consisting of two unstressed syllables followed by one stressed syllable (˘ ˘ ´).
  • The line is written in anapaests.
• Anapaestic tetrameter: A line of verse consisting of four anapaestic feet.
  • The poem "The Destruction of Sennacherib" by Lord Byron is a famous example of anapaestic tetrameter.

Synonyms

• Anapestic: The more common American English spelling of the same adjective.

Antonyms

• Dactylic: Describing a metrical foot consisting of one long or stressed syllable followed by two short or unstressed syllables (the reverse pattern of an anapaest).

Adjective

1. (of a metric foot) characterized by two short syllables followed by a long one