Stichomythia
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A technique in drama or poetry, in which alternating lines, or half-lines, are given to alternating characters, voices, or entities. countable, uncountable
"The trial in the great hall under its high vaults, dusty sunlight shafting in, full of murmurers and growlers quietened by beadles and bailiffs, with howlers in the street held back with pikes, was by way of being a play without plot or exercise in what the Senecans term stichomythia."
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
More examples"The trial in the great hall under its high vaults, dusty sunlight shafting in, full of murmurers and growlers quietened by beadles and bailiffs, with howlers in the street held back with pikes, was by way of being a play without plot or exercise in what the Senecans term stichomythia."
Etymology
From Latin, from Ancient Greek στιχομυθία (stikhomuthía), from στίχος (stíkhos, “line of verse”) (see sticho-) + μῦθος (mûthos, “speech”).
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.