hexameter

UK: /hɛkˈsæmɪtə/ US: /hɛkˈsæmɪtɚ/ ,(hek sam′i tər)

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

hex•am•e•ter /hɛkˈsæmɪtɚ/   n. [countable]

1. Poetry a line of poetry having six important metrical feet.

See -hexa-.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

hex•am•e•ter  (hek sam′i tər), [Pros.]
n. 

1. Poetry a dactylic line of six feet, as in Greek and Latin epic poetry, in which the first four feet are dactyls or spondees, the fifth is ordinarily a dactyl, and the last is a trochee or spondee, with a caesura usually following the long syllable in the third foot.
2. Poetry any line of verse in six feet, as in English poetry.

adj. 

3. Poetry consisting of six metrical feet.

• Greek hexámetros of six measures, equivalent. to hexa- hexa- + métr(on) measure + -os adjective, adjectival suffix
• Latin
• 1540–50;

hex•a•met•ric  (hek′sə me′trik), hex′a•met′ri•cal, hex•am′e•tral, adj. 

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

hexameter / hɛkˈsæmɪtə/ noun

1. a verse line consisting of six metrical feet
2. (in Greek and Latin epic poetry) a verse line of six metrical feet, of which the first four are usually dactyls or spondees, the fifth almost always a dactyl, and the sixth a spondee or trochee

hexaˈmetral, hexametric / ˌhɛksəˈmɛtrɪk/, ˌhexaˈmetrical adjective