Paroemiac

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A catalectic anapestic dimeter. countable, uncountable

    "Two successive paroemiacs were admissible only in anapaests of this 'free' or lyric character (n. on 86—120). These paroemiacs are purely spondaic; as 'free' anapaests also admitted the converse license, of resolving the long syllables, except the last, of the paroemiac."

Example

More examples

"Two successive paroemiacs were admissible only in anapaests of this 'free' or lyric character (n. on 86—120). These paroemiacs are purely spondaic; as 'free' anapaests also admitted the converse license, of resolving the long syllables, except the last, of the paroemiac."

Etymology

From Ancient Greek παροιμιακόν (paroimiakón, noun) and παροιμιακός (paroimiakós, adjective), from παροιμία (paroimía, “proverb”).

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.