terza rima
UK/ˌtɛːtsə ˈɹiːmə/US/ˌtɝtsə ˈɹimə/
terza rima noun: an arrangement of triplets, generally in iambic pentameter in English, with rhyme scheme aba bcb cdc.
Noun
terza rima (usually uncountable, plural terze rime)
- An arrangement of triplets, generally in iambic pentameter in English, with rhyme scheme aba bcb cdc.
- In attempting to make the ‘Divina Commedia’ better known to English readers, it might have been held only a fitting mark of deference to my original to reproduce it, if practicable, in the metre of the poet's own choice. But on the appearance of my ‘Inferno,’ its Terza Rima was denounced as the one...1865, Dante Alighieri, “preface”, in John Dayman, transl., The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri: Translated in Terza Rima by John Dayman, page viii
Forms of terza rima
| plural | terze rime |
|---|
Origin of terza rima
Borrowed from Italian terza rima (literally “third rhyme”).
Questions about terza rima
- What does terza rima mean?
- Terza rima means an arrangement of triplets, generally in iambic pentameter in English, with rhyme scheme aba bcb cdc.
- What part of speech is terza rima?
- Terza rima is a noun.
- How do you pronounce terza rima?
- Terza rima is pronounced /ˌtɛːtsə ˈɹiːmə/ (UK).
- What is the plural of terza rima?
- The plural of terza rima is terze rime.
Words near terza rima in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: terza rima (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this entry: “terza rima.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/terza_rima. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.