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Glite Dictionary
🎵 Long musical pattern 📜 Too many syllables
hypermetrical

hypermetrical

9.9
A line of poetry with more syllables than usual
  • adjective
  • /ˌhaɪpərˈmɛtrɪkəl/
  • Literature
: hipermétrico
  • The poet skillfully used a hypermetrical line to emphasize the emotional intensity of the moment.

Examples

  • How different, though also hypermetrical, the line would be as "can't a father speak?" Subtleties of intonation might still be up for interpretation, but meter would stably affirm our dramatic choices.

    Academic text (2016)

  • The teacher explained that hypermetrical lines could create unique rhythmic effects in poetry.

  • In her latest work, she explored hypermetrical verses that challenged traditional poetic structures.

Surface Forms

hypermetrical positive

Morphology

hypermetrical = metrical (semi-transparent) = hyper + meter + ical

The word is built regularly from hyper- + metrical, but the verse term is somewhat technical and not fully obvious to an average learner.

Etymology

Hypermetrical comes from hyper- meaning 'over' or 'beyond' and metre — the same root as in meter and metronome — meaning 'measure'. So a hypermetrical line in poetry has more syllables than the usual measure, going 'beyond' the expected number of beats.