Definition of Catalectic

1. Noun. (prosody) a line of verse that lacks a syllable in the last metrical foot.

Category relationships: Metrics, Prosody
Generic synonyms: Line Of Poetry, Line Of Verse
Derivative terms: Catalexis

2. Adjective. (verse) metrically incomplete; especially lacking one or more syllables in the final metrical foot.
Antonyms: Acatalectic, Hypercatalectic
Derivative terms: Catalexis

Definition of Catalectic

1. a. Wanting a syllable at the end, or terminating in an imperfect foot; as, a catalectic verse.

Definition of Catalectic

1. Adjective. (context: poetry) Said of a line with incomplete meter, lacking a syllable at the end or ending with an incomplete foot. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Catalectic

1. [n -S]

Lexicographical Neighbors of Catalectic

catadromous
catafalco
catafalcoes
catafalque
catafalques
catagelophobia
catagen
catagenesis
cataglottis
catagmatic
catalanoite
catalase
catalases
catalatic
catalatic reaction
catalectic (current term)
catalectics
catalepses
catalepsies
catalepsis
catalepsy
cataleptic
cataleptically
cataleptics
cataleptoid
catalexes
catalexis
catalina coupon
catalina coupons
catallactics

Literary usage of Catalectic

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. A Latin Grammar for Schools and Colleges by Albert Harkness (1866)
"I. Trochaic Tetrameter catalectic. 680. This consists of four Trochaic ... catalectic. 681. This consists of two Trochaic ..."

2. The Catholic Encyclopedia: An International Work of Reference on the by Charles George Herbermann, Edward Aloysius Pace, Condé Bénoist Pallen, Thomas Joseph Shahan, John Joseph Wynne (1913)
"... it has the same kind of verse with its masculine and feminine rhymes and a similar rhythm, the only difference being that the order of the catalectic ..."

3. The Nature of Harmony and Metre by Moritz Hauptmann (1888)
"... two halves of the verse appear separated, the tie which should unite them is wanting. In scansion generally a distinction is made between catalectic and ..."

4. The Grecian Drama: A Treatise on the Dramatic Literature of the Greeks by John Richard Darley (1840)
"*If a cretic, or a first or fourth paeon, be taken away from the beginning of a trochaic tetrameter catalectic, there remains a trimeter iambic ..."

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