dactylic

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.

It is said that Meechan’s fellow satirist, Juvenal, issued a similar warning to ancient Greek critics, infuriated by his cavalier use of the dactylic hexameter, in the second century AD.

From The Guardian • May 26, 2019

Written in sprightly dactylic couplets, The Gashlycrumb Tinies was inspired, said Gorey, by “those 19th century cautionary tales, I guess, though my book is punishment without misbehavior.”

From Slate • Nov. 14, 2018

As such, it’s particularly difficult to adapt to dactylic hexameter, the waltzlike, oom-pah-pah meter of epic poetry, which the Romans inherited from the Greeks.

From The New Yorker • Oct. 8, 2018

Homer composed the “Odyssey” in dactylic hexameter, the six-beat meter that gives the poem its elevated oom-pah-pah, oom-pah-pah cadence.

From New York Times • Sep. 18, 2017

I have known readers, speakers, and actors who have completely lost the dactylic and even the trochaic spirit or mode of expression.

From Browning and the Dramatic Monologue by Curry, S. S. (Samuel Silas)