Definition of "pentameter" [pen•tam•e•ter]

• A line of verse consisting of five metrical feet. (noun)
• English verse composed in iambic pentameter. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Actually, the prevailing wisdom that iambic pentameter is somehow ideal for relating the rhythms of English speech seems deeply flawed to me."
• "The poem's iambic pentameter is frequently excellent: occasionally perfect regularity becomes a musical metaphor for stateliness, as in line 2."
• "Iambs can begin four-beat lines or so-called pentameter lines, which are really six-beat lines."