noun
- A metrical foot consisting of four syllables, with the pattern long-short-short-long (— ∪ ∪ —), used in classical poetry.
Usage: technical; prosody; classical literature
Examples
- The choriambus is a rare metrical unit in English verse but appears frequently in Greek and Latin poetry.
- Scholars of classical meter study the choriambus as one of the fundamental building blocks of ancient poetic forms.
- The choriambus pattern can be heard in certain passages of Horace's odes.
- Understanding the choriambus requires knowledge of quantitative meter, which measures syllables by length rather than stress.