Meanings
- not comparableHaving ten syllables.
The accomplishment was nothing. The meticulous maps, drawn in three colors of ink, learning and spelling decasyllabic words, memorizing the whole of The Rape of Lucrece—it was for nothing.
1969, Maya Angelou, chapter 23, in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, New York: Bantam, published 1971, page 1521 more example
The lines are almost uniformly decasyllabic (though the syntax breaks up the iambs early in the sequence), and there are some notable exceptions which mainly cluster toward the end of the final sonnet (one line is a thirteener).
1992, Peter Quartermain, “‘Not at All Surprised by Science’: Louis Zukofsky’s First Half of ‘A’ – 9”, in Disjunctive Poetics: From Gertrude Stein and Louis Zukofsky to Susan Howe (Cambridge Studies in American Literature and Culture), Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 74 - not comparableComposed of decasyllables.
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectivehaving or characterized by or consisting of ten syllables
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
Translations
Catalan decasíl·lab
- decasíl·labhaving ten syllables
Dutch tienlettergrepig
- tienlettergrepighaving ten syllables
Esperanto deksilaba
- deksilabahaving ten syllables
Finnish kymmentavuinen
- kymmentavuinenhaving ten syllables
French décasyllabe, décasyllabique
- décasyllabehaving ten syllables
- décasyllabiquehaving ten syllables
German zehnsilbig
- zehnsilbighaving ten syllables
Greek δεκασύλλαβος
- δεκασύλλαβος (dekasýllavos)having ten syllables
Hungarian tíz szótagú/szótagos
- tíz szótagú/szótagoshaving ten syllables
Irish deichshiollach
- deichshiollachhaving ten syllables
Polish dziesięciozgłoskowy
- dziesięciozgłoskowyhaving ten syllables
Russian десятисложный
- десятисложный (desjatisložnyj)having ten syllables
Swedish tiostavig
- tiostavighaving ten syllables
Cite this entry
decasyllabic. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/decasyllabic
“decasyllabic.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/decasyllabic. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “decasyllabic,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/decasyllabic.
Source: decasyllabic on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.