rhyme

American  

[rahym] / raɪm /

Sometimes rime

noun

• rhymes
  plural

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)

• rhymes,
  present (3rd person singular)
• rhymed,
  past participle,  past
• rhyming
  present participle

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)

• rhymes,
  present (3rd person singular)
• rhymed,
  past participle,  past
• rhyming
  present participle

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

Derived Forms

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

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• rhymes
  plural

Participles

• rhyming
  present
• rhymed
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• rhyme
  simple
• rhymes
  simple
• have rhymed
  perfect
• has rhymed
  perfect
• am rhyming
  progressive
• are rhyming
  progressive
• is rhyming
  progressive
• have been rhyming
  perfect progressive
• has been rhyming
  perfect progressive

Past

• rhymed
  simple
• had rhymed
  perfect
• was rhyming
  progressive
• were rhyming
  progressive
• had been rhyming
  perfect progressive

Future

• will rhyme
  simple
• will have rhymed
  perfect
• will be rhyming
  progressive
• will have been rhyming
  perfect progressive

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

Explanation

A rhyme is when the ending sounds of two words sound alike — like "mouse" and "house" or "complain" and "sustain." If you have a knack for rhyme, you might have a bright future as a poet. “True wit is nature to advantage dress'd; / What oft was thought, but ne'er so well express'd”: lines of rhyme written by English poet Alexander Pope. The way “dress’d” and “express’d” sound, that’s rhyme. Rhyme shares the same Latin root as rhythm, and poetry that rhymes does have a rhythm to it, like in a song. Rhyme is a noun for similar sounds or a poem that uses rhyme, and it’s also a verb, like saying, “What rhymes with orange?”

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

rhyme rhymes rhymed rhyming

From certain angles it seems not much bigger than the shoe occupied by the old woman in the nursery rhyme.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026

Its name is inspired by the nursery rhyme Old Mother Goose, reflecting the idea of an ancient goose emerging from the mud of a fossil deposit.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 11, 2026

Their lead single “Fabienk” is studded with hair-trigger riffs — if you can even call them that — that mix the playful nursery rhyme melodies of Battles with the no-wave drone of Sonic Youth.

From Salon ● Jun. 5, 2026

But the leverage dynamics rhyme strongly, and Shin’s entire intellectual project has been to arrest leverage booms before they tip over.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 4, 2026

To prepare for the improvisation part of this rhyme, use rhythm cards for several weeks prior.

From "Music and the Child" by Natalie Sarrazin

The writing team researched medieval songs and kids’ rhymes to develop the tunes.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 16, 2026

What follows are flights of wordplay, jokes, tragedies and rhymes “meant to be spoken aloud, as a form of conjuring back.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 12, 2026

The white peak of the Chimborazo rhymes with the white of a waterfall in the foreground, which serves as the focal point of the composition.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 1, 2026

Attending LaGuardia High School of Music & Art, he became friends with future rapper Dana Dane and they started writing their own rhymes.

From BBC ● Mar. 25, 2026

All night long, it seemed, his mother had sat on his bed in the dark, singing nursery rhymes, telling him stories, and as long as her dear voice was there, he knew he was safe.

From "The Amber Spyglass" by Philip Pullman

“The struggles of these ordinary farming folk in rural China really rhymed with what was suddenly happening to farming folk in the U.S.A.,” says Peter Conn, emeritus professor of English at the University of Pennsylvania.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 21, 2026

When they accepted the award, Montenegro named a dozen Venezuelan musicians in a rhymed speech and urged his countrymen to keep their heads up.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 12, 2025

In 2002, he even made fun of the situation with the self-deprecating I Will Talk And Hollywood Will Listen, in which the title rhymed with the lyric "Mr Spielberg look just what you're missing".

From BBC ● Dec. 15, 2024

There are, in fact, some rather disturbing rhymed couplets, if you will.

From Salon ● Jul. 30, 2024

She said the name so it rhymed with Muriel.

From "The Son of Neptune" by Rick Riordan

One story is told in rhyming couplets and another is conveyed entirely in images of paw and footprints.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 29, 2026

MS Now‘s Jacob Soboroff played Mamdani the rhyming boast that begin’s “My mayor’s Muslim, my bagel’s Jewish.”

From Salon ● Jun. 14, 2026

A relatively anonymous take on Dua Lipa's dance-pop, it loses points for rhyming "fire" with "desire" - but I can't get it out of my head.

From BBC ● May 8, 2026

Until we see persistent, continual job losses over a long period of time across the entire economy, the safe bet is that history is simply rhyming.

From Barron's ● Mar. 27, 2026

It featured the hallmarks of most pre-school literature: repetition, some kind of annoying rhyming, and bold-faced scientific lies.

From "Counting by 7s" by Holly Goldberg Sloan

Related Words

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