noun
- A metrical foot consisting of three syllables with the stress pattern: unstressed-stressed-unstressed (∪ ¯ ∪), also called a cretic.
Usage: technical; prosody; also called cretic
Examples
- The amphimacer is less common in English poetry than the iamb or trochee.
- Classical Greek and Latin verse frequently employed the amphimacer in various metrical patterns.
- Poets studying prosody learn to identify the amphimacer by its distinctive three-syllable rhythm.
- The word 'merrily' can be scanned as an amphimacer in certain metrical contexts.