verse
noun
(not in technical use) a stanza.
Showing results for "verse"
- a variation of vers.
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verse
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-verse
-versea combining form extracted from universe, occurring as the final element in compounds with the sense “in the sphere or realm of”: Chaos is erupting in the Twitterverse right now. We try to stick with using the Linuxverse on our computers. A new publisher is big news in the writerverse.
verse
1 American
[vurs]
/ vɜrs /
noun
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verses
plural
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(not in technical use) a stanza.
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a succession of metrical feet written, printed, or orally composed as one line; one of the lines of a poem.
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a particular type of metrical line.
a hexameter verse.
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a poem, or piece of poetry.
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metrical composition; poetry, especially as involving metrical form.
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metrical writing distinguished from poetry because of its inferior quality.
a writer of verse, not poetry.
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a particular type of metrical composition.
elegiac verse.
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the collective poetry of an author, period, nation, etc..
Miltonian verse;
American verse.
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one of the short conventional divisions of a chapter of the Bible.
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Music.
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that part of a song following the introduction and preceding the chorus.
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a part of a song designed to be sung by a solo voice.
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Rare. a line of prose, especially a sentence, or part of a sentence, written as one line.
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Rare. a subdivision in any literary work.
adjective
verb (used without object)
versed,
versing
verb (used with object)
versed,
versing
verse
2
American
[vurs]
/ vɜrs /
verb (used with object)
-verse
3
American
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a combining form extracted from universe, occurring as the final element in compounds with the sense “in the sphere or realm of”: Chaos is erupting in the Twitterverse right now. We try to stick with using the Linuxverse on our computers. A new publisher is big news in the writerverse.
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a combining form extracted from universe, used in forming names for a fictional world associated with a particular media franchise: the BTTF-verse of Back to the Future;
the Whoniverse of Doctor Who;
the BTTF-verse of Back to the Future;
the Vorkosiverse of the Vorkosigan Saga.
verse
British
/ vɜːs /
noun
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(not in technical usage) a stanza or other short subdivision of a poem
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poetry as distinct from prose
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a series of metrical feet forming a rhythmic unit of one line
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( as modifier )
verse line
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a specified type of metre or metrical structure
iambic verse
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one of the series of short subsections into which most of the writings in the Bible are divided
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a metrical composition; poem
verb
verse
Cultural
verse
Idioms
Synonym Usage
Verse, stanza, strophe, stave are terms for a metrical grouping in poetic composition. Verse is often mistakenly used for stanza, but is properly only a single metrical line. A stanza is a succession of lines (verses) commonly bound together by a rhyme scheme, and usually forming one of a series of similar groups that constitute a poem: The four-line stanza is the one most frequently used in English. Strophe (originally the section of a Greek choral ode sung while the chorus was moving from right to left) is in English poetry practically equivalent to “section”; a strophe may be unrhymed or without strict form, but may be a stanza: Strophes are divisions of odes. Stave is a word (now seldom used) that means a stanza set to music or intended to be sung: a stave of a hymn; a stave of a drinking song. See poetry.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of verse1
First recorded before 900; Middle English vers(e), fers “line of poetry, section of a psalm,” from Old French vers, Anglo-French verse, veers, and Old English fers, færs, fyrs, from Latin versus “a row, line (of poetry),” literally, “a turning,” equivalent to vert(ere), “to turn” (past participle versus; akin to -ward, worth 2
Origin of verse2
An Americanism dating back to 1980–85; shortening of versus ( def. )
Origin of -verse3
First recorded in 1980–85
Explanation
A poem — especially one that rhymes — is called verse. The children's author Dr. Seuss wrote in verse, and the regular rhymes of "The Cat in the Hat" helped generations of children learn to read. In music, a verse is a section of a song that's often followed by a chorus. Many people can sing the chorus to "Take Me Out to the Ball Game," but few realize there are also verses, including one that starts, "Katie Casey was baseball mad." Verse comes from the Latin word versus, which means a line of writing and is based on the Proto-Indo-European root wer, meaning to turn or bend.
Vocabulary lists containing verse
Reading: Literature - Poetry - Introductory
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"Easter, 1916" by W.B. Yeats
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Reading: Literature - Poetry - Middle School
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
It isn’t until the closing lines of his verse that Eminem turns to God and the brotherhood of man.
From Salon ● Oct. 21, 2026
How else can you explain a verse that is 90% throat-clearing and preemptive dodges of the backlash he knows is coming?
From Salon ● Oct. 21, 2026
The playwright’s fellow dramatist George Chapman published seven books of his verse translations of the “Iliad” in 1598.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026
Then he finished a verse and the next thing I know he's gone.
From BBC ● Sep. 21, 2026
A Sunday school verse came back to me: They will soar on wings like eagles, they will run and not grow weary; they will walk and not be faint.
From "Hattie Big Sky" by Kirby Larson
The set starts reasonably well with the title track, a bouncy synthetic confection with chanted verses that recalls hits from Kesha.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 22, 2026
His productions on Scarface’s 1997’s “The Untouchable” helped it go platinum, with “Smile” sporting one of the last verses recorded by Tupac Shakur.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 17, 2026
The chapel will also have new stained-glass windows to reflect one of Parton's favourite Bible verses: "For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven."
From BBC ● Sep. 3, 2026
“The pro-slavery factions were picking on specific verses like ‘slaves obey your masters’ and saying, ‘Well, we’re clearly advancing the more biblical society because look, the Bible says exactly what we’re doing,’” Coffman said.
From Salon ● Aug. 14, 2026
“You have to memorize ten Bible verses plus the books of the Old and New Testaments. And it’s a park.”
From "Betty Before X" by Ilyasah Shabazz and Renée Watson
With Mallory, I just wanted to dunk her in the middle of the thing that she thinks she’s so well versed about.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 15, 2026
To critique any tool, though, you have to be well versed in it, says Daniel Zhao, chief economist at Glassdoor.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 7, 2026
Duncan Wambugu, who is also a music professor well versed in copyright policy, was stunned by the dispute.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 5, 2026
Meanwhile, Ukraine's success in drone warfare has attracted the attention of rich Gulf states that have been targeted with the same types of Iranian-designed drones that Ukraine is now well versed in countering.
From Barron's ● May 27, 2026
I was not well versed in American history, but I had learned the basics in school in Africa.
From "How Dare the Sun Rise" by Sandra Uwiringiyimana
Many former assistants have risen in the Hollywood ranks, and credit Scott Rudin Productions with versing them in the ways of the industry.
From New York Times ● Apr. 24, 2021
Deadpool 2 doesn’t have as many characters as Infinity War, but full enjoyment of it is even more conditional on a thorough versing in the source material.
From Slate ● May 17, 2018
Fighting, writing, digging, rigging, Hiving, wiving, nursing, versing.
From Time Magazine Archive
Nixon himself held no illusions about re versing the 1960 decision,* planned to remain above the rumblings about crooked counts.
From Time Magazine Archive
Whoever’s versing him right now is a brave soul.
From "Like Vanessa" by Tami Charles
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