iambic means consisting of iambs (metrical feet with an unstressed–stressed pattern) or characterized by their predominance. It carries an Arena rating of 1570, earned across 4 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, iambic ranks #2,332 of 17,104 for Most Storied Words, #4,411 of 17,126 for Most Elegant Words, #5,479 of 17,149 for Most Exacting Words, #7,750 of 17,127 for Words That Escaped Their Books.
iambic is pronounced /aɪˈæmbɪk/.
Why “iambic” is a great word
Consisting of or characterized by iambs, a metrical foot with an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed one. From Middle French iambique, from Late Latin iambicus, from Ancient Greek ἰαμβικός (iambikós, 'pertaining to an iamb'), from ἴαμβος (íambos, 'iambic foot; lampoon') + -ικός (-ikós, adjectival suffix). Unlike trochaic, which marches with a heavy, falling tread (DUM-da), or anapestic, which gallops with a hurried, triple-time clip (da-da-DUM), the iambic is a quiet, inevitable rise: da-DUM. It is the cadence of the human heart, the rhythm of a rocking chair on a wooden porch, and the default pulse of English speech itself—a humble, persistent insistence that we end, always, on a note of weight.
Etymology
From Middle French iambique, from Late Latin ïambicus, from Ancient Greek ἰαμβικός (iambikós), from ἴαμβος (íambos) + -ικός (-ikós).
adj
- Consisting of iambs (metrical feet with an unstressed–stressed pattern) or characterized by their predominance.e.g.“[J]ust before the rhythm becomes iambic, there will be a point reached at which the rhythm can hardly be said to be more iambic than it is trochaic.” — 1908, Frank Gilbert Bruner, The Hearing of Primitive Peoples, page 17:
noun
- An iamb; a line or group of lines of iambs.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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