or Alexandrin, in poetry, a kind of verse, consisting of twelve, or of twelve and thirteen syllables alternately; so called from a poem on the life of Alexander, written in this kind of verse by some French poet.

Alexandrines are peculiar to modern poetry, and seem well adapted to epic poems. They are sometimes used by most nations of Europe, but chiefly by the French, whose tragedies are generally composed of Alexandrines.