dactyl Synonyms

No Synonyms and anytonyms found

dactyl Meaning

Wordnet

dactyl (n)

a metrical unit with stressed-unstressed-unstressed syllables

a finger or toe in human beings or corresponding body part in other vertebrates

Webster

dactyl (n.)

A poetical foot of three sylables (-- ~ ~), one long followed by two short, or one accented followed by two unaccented; as, L. tegm/n/, E. mer\b6ciful; -- so called from the similarity of its arrangement to that of the joints of a finger.

A finger or toe; a digit.

The claw or terminal joint of a leg of an insect or crustacean.

dactyl Sentence Examples

  1. A dactyl is a metrical foot in poetry consisting of one stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables.
  2. The word "poetry" itself is an example of a dactyl, with the stress falling on the first syllable.
  3. In Greek and Latin poetry, dactyls were frequently used in epic verse and hymns.
  4. The rhythmic pattern of dactyls creates a flowing and dynamic effect in poetry.
  5. Edgar Allan Poe's poem "The Raven" employs dactylic meter in its famous line, "Once upon a midnight dreary."
  6. Dactyls are one of the building blocks of classical metrics, along with trochees, iambs, and anapests.
  7. The dactylic hexameter, with six dactyls per line, was the meter of choice for ancient Greek and Roman epic poetry.
  8. The dactyl is named after the Greek word "daktylos," meaning "finger," because of its three-part structure resembling the joints of a finger.
  9. When scanning poetry, identifying dactyls helps determine the overall rhythm and meter of the poem.
  10. Dactyls contribute to the musicality and cadence of verse, enhancing its aesthetic appeal to the ear.

FAQs About the word dactyl

a metrical unit with stressed-unstressed-unstressed syllables, a finger or toe in human beings or corresponding body part in other vertebratesA poetical foot of

No synonyms found.

No antonyms found.

A dactyl is a metrical foot in poetry consisting of one stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables.

The word "poetry" itself is an example of a dactyl, with the stress falling on the first syllable.

In Greek and Latin poetry, dactyls were frequently used in epic verse and hymns.

The rhythmic pattern of dactyls creates a flowing and dynamic effect in poetry.