enjamb

enjamb means to carry a sentence over to the next line without a pause.

Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, enjamb ranks #173 of 12,955 for Most Elegant Words, #1,081 of 12,955 for Most Exacting Words, #1,858 of 12,835 for Funniest Words, #1,992 of 12,956 for Words That Escaped Their Books.

Why “enjamb” is a great word

To carry a sentence or clause over from one line of verse to the next without a syntactical pause. From French *enjamber*, meaning 'to stride over', from *en-* ('in, on') + *jambe* ('leg'); first attested in English c. 1600. Unlike 'end-stop', which halts sense at a line's edge, or 'caesura', which punctuates its interior, to enjamb is the deliberate stride of syntax across the white space of the margin. It is the syntactical wave cresting over the seawall of the stanza, the long leg of a thought stepping over a fence without breaking stride, the whispered secret that refuses to pause for the turning of a page—a formal rebellion proving that the truest rhythm is the restless one of the mind in motion.

Etymology

Borrowed from French enjamber.

verb

To carry a sentence over to the next line without a pause.

Words closest in meaning

By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.

scansion 85% match — The rhythm or meter of a line or verse. vs enjamb →
pentameter 84% match — A line in a poem having five metrical feet. vs enjamb →
hemistich 83% match — An approximate half-line of verse, separated from another by a caesura, often for dramatic effect. vs enjamb →
trochee 82% match — A metrical foot in verse consisting of a stressed or heavy syllable followed by an unstressed or light syllable. vs enjamb →
alexandrine 81% match — A line of poetic meter having twelve syllables, usually divided into two or three equal parts. vs enjamb →
explication 80% match — The act of opening or unfolding. vs enjamb →
monostich 80% match — A poem having only one line. vs enjamb →
passus 80% match — A section of a long narrative poem; a canto vs enjamb →