noun
- 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 anapest.
- Many limericks are written using anapests.
- The poet used anapests to create a galloping rhythm.
- An anapest has the pattern unstressed-unstressed-stressed.
- The line contains three anapests in succession.
- Students learned to identify anapests in classical verse.