Advertisement - Continue reading below

Definition of "spondaic" [spon•da•ic]

  • Of, relating to, or consisting of spondees. (adjective)

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.

Use "spondaic" in a sentence
  • "But the beauty of the descriptions in _Evangeline_ and the pathos -- somewhat too drawn out -- of the story made it dear to a multitude of readers who cared nothing about the technical disputes of Poe and other critics as to whether or not Longfellow's lines were sufficiently "spondaic" to represent truthfully the quantitative hexameters of Homer and Vergil."
  • "But the beauty of the descriptions in _Evangeline_ and the pathos -- somewhat too drawn out -- of the story made it dear to a multitude of readers who cared nothing about the technical disputes of Poe and other critics as to whether or not Longfellow's lines were sufficiently "spondaic" to truthfully represent the quantitative hexameters of Homer and Vergil."
  • "Consideration of the most common of those variations, the spondaic (two stressed) and the pyrrhic (two unstressed), which are often found together forming what some have called the ionic foot, completes the chapter walking us into consideration of the line."