alliterate
Americanverb (used without object)
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to show alliteration.
In “Round and round the rugged rock the ragged rascal ran,” the “r” alliterates.
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to use alliteration.
Swinburne often alliterates.
verb (used with object)
verb
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to contain or cause to contain alliteration
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(intr) to speak or write using alliteration
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of alliterate
First recorded in 1810–20; back formation from alliteration
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:
And he really did alliterate like that when you talked to him.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 12, 2018
“And he really did alliterate like that when you talked to him.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 12, 2018
It helps that the words "latte" and "liberalism" alliterate.
From BBC ● Oct. 5, 2014
The real problem with the Washington Bullets name was that it didn't alliterate, and the reason it didn't alliterate was that Abe Pollin stole the Baltimore Bullets.
From Slate ● Jan. 12, 2010
They may be explained as follows:—Hustrin, hustling, or riotously inclined, being so consonanted to make it alliterate with custrin, spelt by Jamieson, custroun, and signifying a pitiful fellow.
From Notes and Queries, Number 69, February 22, 1851 A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc. by George Bell
“A passeggiata in pineta is just pleasure,” Mr. Pasanella alliterated, using the Italian word for walk.
From New York Times ● Jun. 2, 2022
He received innumerable complimentary and alliterated nicknames, and a match with noisy and preposterous Max Baer.
From Time Magazine Archive
But Mr. Hoover's name was alliterated with nothing but itself in the Republican talk elsewhere.
From Time Magazine Archive
Neatly alliterated with Mr. Hughes's name in the Eastern Republican powwows, was the name of Herbert C. Hoover, for Vice President.
From Time Magazine Archive
If these alliterated words be the last two, the concord is perfect, if not, it is an improper concord.
From The Revival of Irish Literature Addresses by Sir Charles Gavan Duffy, K.C.M.G, Dr. George Sigerson, and Dr. Douglas Hyde by Charles Gavan Duffy
The ‘h’ may have been carried over from the three alliterating ‘h’s.’
From Beowulf An Anglo-Saxon Epic Poem by Lesslie Hall
The art of subtle suggestion could hardly go further than in this line, where the alliterating v's, the mute e's, and the placing of the long syllables combine so wonderfully to produce the required effect.
From Books and Characters French and English by Giles Lytton Strachey
The strong accents of the alliterating syllables supply the music with firmness, while the low-toned syllables give opportunity for the most varied nuances of declamation.
From The Great German Composers by George T. (George Titus) Ferris
Every line attains double alliteration in the first half, with one alliterating word only in the second half.
From Beowulf An Introduction to the Study of the Poem with a Discussion of the Stories of Offa and Finn by R. W. Chambers
The lines are written in pairs, and each perfect line contains three alliterating words,—two in the first part, and one in the second.
From National Epics by Kate Milner Rabb
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