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
All consonants alliterate with themselves, though usually sh, sp, and st agree only with the same combination.
From Old English Poems Translated into the Original Meter Together with Short Selections from Old English Prose by Various
“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
And so I fashioned my apt phrases, and weighed my synonyms, and echoed this or that vowel very skilfully, I thought, and alliterated my consonants with discretion.
From The Cords of Vanity A Comedy of Shirking by James Branch Cabell
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
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
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
When the first half-line contains but one alliterating syllable, that syllable marks the first stress, rarely the second.
From Anglo-Saxon Grammar and Exercise Book with Inflections, Syntax, Selections for Reading, and Glossary by C. Alphonso (Charles Alphonso) Smith
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