1. a metrical foot consisting of two unstressed syllables followed by one stressed syllable
Usage: poetry; prosody

Examples

• The word ‘understand’ is an example of an anapaest.
• Byron frequently used anapaests in his poetry.
• The anapaest creates a galloping rhythm in verse.
• Students learned to identify anapaests by their da-da-DUM pattern.
• The poem’s anapaestic meter gave it a lively, bouncing quality.
• She scanned the line and found three anapaests in succession.