Arsis
//ˈɑː(ɹ)sɪs// noun
noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 Raising of the voice in prosody, accented part of a metrical foot
- 2 The stronger part of a musical measure: the part containing the beat. countable, uncountable
- 3 The stronger part of a metrical foot: the part containing the long (heavy) syllable in quantitative meter, or the stressed syllable in a qualitative meter. countable, uncountable
"it comes to pass that the arsis may effect some change in the order of which it is itself the commencement"
- 4 The elevation of the hand, or that part of the bar at which it is raised, in beating time; the weak or unaccented part of the bar, opposed to the thesis. countable, uncountable
- 5 The elevation of the voice to a higher pitch in speaking. countable, uncountable
Antonyms
All antonymsExample
More examples"it comes to pass that the arsis may effect some change in the order of which it is itself the commencement"
Etymology
Etymology 1
From Latin Arsis, from Ancient Greek ἄρσις (ársis, “elevation”).
Etymology 2
From Ancient Greek ἄρσις (ársis, “lifting”), from αἴρω (aírō, “I lift”).
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.