rhyme

American  

[rahym] / raɪm /

Sometimes rime

noun

1. identity in sound of some part, especially the end, of words or lines of verse.

2. a word agreeing with another in terminal sound: Find is a rhyme for mind and womankind.

3. verse or poetry having correspondence in the terminal sounds of the lines.

4. a poem or piece of verse having such correspondence.

5. verse.

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verb (used with object)

rhymed, rhyming

1. to treat in rhyme, as a subject; turn into rhyme, as something in prose.

2. to compose (verse or the like) in metrical form with rhymes.

3. to use (a word) as a rhyme to another word; use (words) as rhymes.

verb (used without object)

rhymed, rhyming

1. to make rhyme or verse; versify.

2. to use rhyme in writing verse.

3. to form a rhyme, as one word or line with another.

   a word that rhymes with orange.

4. to be composed in metrical form with rhymes, as verse.

   poetry that rhymes.

idioms

1. rhyme or reason, logic, sense, or plan.

   There was no rhyme or reason for what they did.

rhyme British  

/ raɪm /

noun

1. identity of the terminal sounds in lines of verse or in words

2. a word that is identical to another in its terminal sound

   ``while'' is a rhyme for ``mile''

3. a verse or piece of poetry having corresponding sounds at the ends of the lines

   the boy made up a rhyme about his teacher

4. any verse or piece of poetry

5. sense, logic, or meaning

   this proposal has no rhyme or reason

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verb

1. to use (a word) or (of a word) to be used so as to form a rhyme; be or make identical in sound

2. to render (a subject) into rhyme

3. to compose (verse) in a metrical structure

rhyme Cultural  

1. A similarity of sound between words, such as moon, spoon, croon, tune, and June. Rhyme is often employed in verse.

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Other Word Forms

• interrhyme verb (used without object)
• misrhymed adjective
• nonrhyme noun
• nonrhymed adjective
• nonrhyming adjective
• outrhyme verb (used with object)
• rhymeless adjective
• rhymer noun
• unrhyme verb (used with object)
• well-rhymed adjective

Etymology

Origin of rhyme

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English rime, from Old French, derivative of rimer “to rhyme,” from unattested Gallo-Romance rimāre “to put in a row,” ultimately derived from Old High German rīm “series, row”; probably not connected with Latin rhythmus “rhythm,” although current spelling (from about 1600) is apparently by association with this word

Example Sentences

Both books tell a tale about an adventure in a woodland full of animals, with the story told in rhyming couplets.

From BBC

All of which fuels excitement around the next obvious question: How does Tesla fit within Musk’s next rhyme?

From The Wall Street Journal

"There is no rhyme or reason to it."

From BBC

Sundance picks often rhyme, as was evident in two well-done black comedies about high-school students who put on wildly inappropriate plays.

From The Wall Street Journal

“What happened to the artist? What d’you got to say?/ If I was on a label, you could drop me today,” he rhymes, before asking a few lines later, “What you willin’ to risk?

From Salon

Related Words

• cadence
• poem
• poetry
• rhythm
• tune
• verse