alliteration
the commencement of two or more stressed syllables of a word group either with the same consonant sound or sound group (consonantal alliteration ), as in from stem to stern, or with a vowel sound that may differ from syllable to syllable (vocalic alliteration ), as in each to all.: Compare consonance (def. 4a).
the commencement of two or more words of a word group with the same letter, as in apt alliteration's artful aid.
Compare Meanings
Click for a side-by-side comparison of meanings. Use the word comparison feature to learn the differences between similar and commonly confused words.
Origin of alliteration
1Words Nearby alliteration
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use alliteration in a sentence
But if you can get past the predilection for alliteration and the teehee!
Why We Worship Derek Jeter (Even If He Kinda Sucks at Shortstop) | Robert Silverman | February 13, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTI congratulated him on a “well-deserved win” and he commended me my alliteration, smiling profusely all the while.
No attempt is made to preserve alliteration or archaic diction.
The Translations of Beowulf | Chauncey Brewster TinkerYou are familiar with the term "alliteration," and know that it is a favourite device of cheap journalism.
The Sounds of Spoken English | Walter RippmannThis has the right swing, and its slightly faulty alliteration could easily be mended, yet Saint Juliana is not verse.
Holthausen restores alliteration by substituting colde for winter.
Haec frumenta legit, si comperit; ordea spernit, T. finde ge, if she find: cleche for finde would restore the alliteration.
British Dictionary definitions for alliteration
/ (əˌlɪtəˈreɪʃən) /
the use of the same consonant (consonantal alliteration) or of a vowel, not necessarily the same vowel (vocalic alliteration), at the beginning of each word or each stressed syllable in a line of verse, as in around the rock the ragged rascal ran
Origin of alliteration
1Derived forms of alliteration
- alliterative, adjective
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Cultural definitions for alliteration
[ (uh-lit-uh-ray-shuhn) ]
The repetition of the beginning sounds of words, as in “Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers,” “long-lived,” “short shrift,” and “the fickle finger of fate.”
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Browse