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.
Origin of alliteration
Related Words for alliteration
recurrence, repeat, reiteration, litany, rhythm, poem, poetry, verse, cadence, tune, echo, relation, restatement, redundancy, renewal, paraphrase, return, reappearance, practice, rehearsalExamples from the Web for alliteration
Contemporary Examples of alliteration
But if you can get past the predilection for alliteration and the teehee!
I congratulated him on a “well-deserved win” and he commended me my alliteration, smiling profusely all the while.
Historical Examples of alliteration
Nikita, surnamed Necator, with a sinister aptness of alliteration!
Under Western EyesJoseph Conrad
The "Cape to Cairo" railroad is another case of alliteration.
FolkwaysWilliam Graham Sumner
Alliteration and rhyme together will, I am afraid, be too much for me.
LavengroGeorge Borrow
The alliteration is without complexity,--a dreary procession of sibilants.
MiltonSir Walter Alexander Raleigh
Consonance is very similar to this latter form of alliteration.
The Principles of English VersificationPaull Franklin Baum
alliteration
- 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
Word Origin for alliteration
Word Origin and History for alliteration
1650s, "a begining with the same letter," from Modern Latin alliterationem (nominative alliteratio), noun of action from past participle stem of alliterare "to begin with the same letter," from Latin ad- "to" (see ad-) + littera (also litera) "letter, script" (see letter). Formed on model of obliteration, etc. Related: Alliterational.
alliteration
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.”