iambic
/aɪˈæmbɪk/adjective, noun
iambic is an adjective meaning “Consisting of iambs (metrical feet with an unstressed–stressed pattern) or characterized by their predominance” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled I-A-M-B-I-C, and it appears about once in every 4 million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data).
What does iambic mean?
adjective
- 1
Consisting of iambs (metrical feet with an unstressed–stressed pattern) or characterized by their predominance.
noun
- 1
An iamb; a line or group of lines of iambs.
adjective
- 1
rareRare spelling of iambic.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you pronounce iambic?
- /aɪˈæmbɪk/
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Forms of iambic
- more iambic comparative
- most iambic superlative
- ïambic
- iambical
- iambick
- jambic
- iambics plural
- more ïambic comparative
- most ïambic superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How common is iambic?
Iambic appears about once in every 4 million words in written English, the 61,481st most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Iambic in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense consisting of iambs or characterized by their predominance:
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does iambic come from?
From Middle French iambique, from Late Latin ïambicus, from Ancient Greek ἰαμβικός (iambikós), from ἴαμβος (íambos) + -ικός (-ikós).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).