noun
- lines of verse consisting of six metrical feet, especially dactylic hexameter used in classical epic poetry
Usage: poetry; classical literature
Examples
- Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey were composed in dactylic hexameters.
- The poet struggled to maintain the rhythm of hexameters throughout the epic.
- Virgil’s Aeneid is written entirely in Latin hexameters.
- Students learned to scan hexameters in their classical literature class.
- The translation preserved the meaning but abandoned the original hexameters.
- Ancient Greek and Roman poets favored hexameters for heroic verse.