Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The continuation of a syntactic unit from one line or couplet of a poem to the next with no pause.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A technique in poetry whereby a sentence is carried over to the next line without pause.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the continuation of a syntactic unit from one line of verse into the next line without a pause

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[French enjambement, from Old French enjamber, to straddle : en-, causative pref.; see en– + jambe, leg; see jamb.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From French enjambement.

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Examples

  • Both poems are written in free verse and make ready use of what is called enjambment, that is, the abrupt continuation of a sentence from one line into the next.

    Deconstructing Obama Jack Cashill 2011

  • Both poems are written in free verse and make ready use of what is called enjambment, that is, the abrupt continuation of a sentence from one line into the next.

    Deconstructing Obama Jack Cashill 2011

  • With its misty sentiment and odd word enjambment, that first lyric casts its shadow across all 44 minutes of the record.

    Going Ape Over Gibbons; But Not Willie's Weak Guests 2002

  • It reminded me of the concept in poetry of "enjambment" where the implied silence at the ends of lines can be crafted to carry meanings that nuance, augment, or contradict readings that obey the conventions of punctuation.

    SWEATblog: Incompleteness 2008

  • It reminded me of the concept in poetry of "enjambment" where the implied silence at the ends of lines can be crafted to carry meanings that nuance, augment, or contradict readings that obey the conventions of punctuation.

    SWEATblog: February 2008 Archives 2008

  • There’s regular enjambment, which is part of traditional poetry and is almost always a bad idea, but especially in sonnets—and then there’s what’s known as ultra-extreme enjambment.

    THE ANTHOLOGIST Nicholson Baker 2009

  • There’s regular enjambment, which is part of traditional poetry and is almost always a bad idea, but especially in sonnets—and then there’s what’s known as ultra-extreme enjambment.

    THE ANTHOLOGIST Nicholson Baker 2009

  • So the flaring grandeur gathers, and in one of the most illogical but nevertheless satisfying descriptions, he makes another parallel simile and with the stretching effect of an enjambment, reaches out to crush.

    God’s Grandeur « Unknowing 2010

  • Mr. Mehrotra's cunning deployment of enjambment—the breaking of a phrase or sentence across a poetic line—propels us from one line to the next, re-enacting, in the four-line opening sentence, the way the mind pieces together the meaning of the world from the messages of the senses, before knocking it out with the clean, flat declaration of the line that follows.

    When Mysticism Came Down to Earth Chandrahas Choudhury 2011

  • Neither actor used "poetry voice," and both actors honored enjambment and privileged sense over rhythm.

    Love Is My Sin deliasherman 2010

Comments

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  • Oh, I almost forgot how much I like this word!

    April 27, 2007

  • When was this word anglicized? When I was in college in the 1970s, I am sure it was always spelled enjambement and pronounced as a French word, with three nasal vowels and zh for the j - which made it fun saying, of course.

    December 7, 2007

  • That's also what I remember from secondary school only a few years ago.

    dictionary.reference.com/browse/enjambment cites the Online Etymology Dictionary: '1837, from enjamb (1600), from Fr. enjamber "to stride over," from jambe "leg."' If that's correct then the terminal e was dropped from the verb before the noun was coined in English, and the French form developed separately.

    December 8, 2007

  • Thanks VO, that's interesting, but I still think I will stick with the French enjambement. I don't think I can bring myself to say en-JAMB-ment.

    December 8, 2007

  • Oui, d'accord. It will feel less ill at ease in the august company of the likes of zeugma and properispomenon if it looks imposingly foreign.

    December 8, 2007

  • When did the US spelling become accepted? Strong feelings on this one!

    October 7, 2014

  • I don't think it is accepted, ladybv. Everyone I know still pronounces it Frenchly.

    October 10, 2014