prosody, n. [L. prosodia the tone or accent of a syllable, Gr. a song sung to, or with, an accompanying song, the accent accompanying the pronunciation; to + song, ode: cf. F. prosodie. See Ode.].

That part of grammar which treats of the quantity of syllables, of accent, and of the laws of versification or metrical composition. [1913 Webster]

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OXFORD DICTIONARY

prosody, n.
1 the theory and practice of versification; the laws of metre.
2 the study of speech-rhythms.

Derivative

prosodic adj. prosodist n.

Etymology

ME f. L prosodia accent f. Gk prosoidia (as PROS-, ODE)

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THESAURUS

prosody

Stabreim, accent, accentuation, alliterative meter, beat, cadence, emphasis, ictus, level of stress, lilt, measure, meter, metrical pattern, metrics, movement, number, numbers, primary stress, prosodic pattern, prosodics, quantitative meter, rhythm, rhythmic pattern, rhythmical stress, scanning, scansion, secondary stress, stress, stress accent, stress pattern, swing, syllabic meter, tertiary stress, vers libre, versification, weak stress

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ROGET THESAURUS

prosody

Poetry

N poetry, poetics, poesy, Muse, Calliope, tuneful Nine, Parnassus, Helicon, Pierides, Pierian spring, versification, rhyming, making verses, prosody, orthometry, poem, epic, epic poem, epopee, epopoea, ode, epode, idyl, lyric, eclogue, pastoral, bucolic, dithyramb, anacreontic, sonnet, roundelay, rondeau, rondo, madrigal, canzonet, cento, monody, elegy, amoebaeum, ghazal, palinode, dramatic poetry, lyric poetry, opera, posy, anthology, disjecta membra poetae song, ballad, lay, love song, drinking song, war song, sea song, lullaby, music, nursery rhymes, doggerel, Hudibrastic verse, prose run mad, macaronics, macaronic verse, leonine verse, runes, canto, stanza, distich, verse, line, couplet, triplet, quatrain, strophe, antistrophe, verse, rhyme, assonance, crambo, meter, measure, foot, numbers, strain, rhythm, accentuation, dactyl, spondee, trochee, anapest, hexameter, pentameter, Alexandrine, anacrusis, antispast, blank verse, ictus, elegiacs, elegiac verse, elegaic meter, elegaic poetry, poet, poet laureate, laureate, bard, lyrist, scald, skald, troubadour, trouvere, minstrel, minnesinger, meistersinger, improvisatore, versifier, sonneteer, rhymer, rhymist, rhymester, ballad monger, runer, poetaster, genus irritabile vatum, poetic, poetical, lyric, lyrical, tuneful, epic, dithyrambic, metrical, a catalectin, elegiac, iambic, trochaic, anapestic, amoebaeic, Melibean, skaldic, Ionic, Sapphic, Alcaic, Pindaric, a poem round and perfect as a star, Dichtung und Wahrheit, furor poeticus, his virtues formed the magic of his song, I do but sing because I must, I learnt life from the poets, licentia vatum, mutum est pictura poema, O for a muse of fire!, sweet food of sweetly uttered knowledge, the true poem is the poet's mind, Volk der Dichter und Denker, wisdom married to immortal verse.

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