Definition of "prosody" [pros•o•dy]

• The study of the metrical structure of verse. (noun)
• A particular system of versification. (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.

• "It seems like this whole discussion thread needs a lesson in prosody, mainly because everyone is getting them wrong."
• "And then, I felt harassed teaching a seminar in prosody — teaching form — at the graduate school level to unwilling, even surly students who were only taking it because they needed the credit."
• "English prosody is regular and veiled, its natural beauties all melancholy; the clouds have shaped its hues, and the sound of waves its modulations."