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Glite Dictionary
➗ A shared divisor 📜 A verse pattern 🎵 4/4 time
common measure

common measure

9.9
A group of four lines with four beats then three beats in alternating lines, often ABAB or ABCB rhyme
  • noun
  • /ˈkɒmən ˈmɛʒər/
  • Literature
translation icon : medida común
  • The ballad's common measure creates a natural, singable cadence that appeals to a wide audience.

Examples

  • Many traditional hymns and folk songs are written in common measure to make them easy to remember and sing.

  • Emily Dickinson often used common measure in her poetry, giving her verses a familiar rhythmic structure.

  • The poem was written in common measure.

  • Many ballads use common measure for their structure.

  • Emily Dickinson often used common measure in her poetry, giving her verses a familiar rhythmic structure.

  • Many traditional hymns and folk songs are written in common measure to make them easy to remember and sing.

  • The ballad's common measure creates a natural, singable cadence that appeals to a wide audience.

Synonyms

common meter
vscommon measure
  • Literature
1 8.5

A four-line poem pattern with alternating long and short lines used in hymns and ballads

focuses on the ballad stanza form and specific abcb or abab rhyme

Surface Forms

common measure singular
common measures plural

Morphology

common + measure

The meaning 'a musical time signature (4/4)' is a specialized, technical sense that cannot be directly inferred from 'common' ('usual/shared') plus the given sense of 'measure' ('benchmark or standard'). A B1 learner who only knows these constituent meanings would not predict the musical/bar meaning or the specific 4/4 interpretation without prior exposure to musical terminology, so the phrase is idiomatic/terminological in this use.

Etymology

Common measure comes from a simple poem pattern used in hymns and ballads: imagine a four-line verse with alternating long and short lines, so the first and third lines are longer and the second and fourth are shorter. Because this pattern was used so often, it became known as a 'common measure' meaning a familiar, singable poetic rhythm.