alliteration

[uh-lit-uh-rey-shuh n]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR alliteration ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

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

1650–60; < Medieval Latin alliterātiōn-, stem of alliterātiō, equivalent to al- al- + literātiō, modeled after obliterātiō obliteration but intended to convey a derivative of littera letter

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for alliteration

recurrence, repeat, reiteration, litany, rhythm, poem, poetry, verse, cadence, tune, echo, relation, restatement, redundancy, renewal, paraphrase, return, reappearance, practice, rehearsal

Examples from the Web for alliteration

Contemporary Examples of alliteration

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
I congratulated him on a “well-deserved win” and he commended me my alliteration, smiling profusely all the while.
Booker Goes Bookish
Lucy Scholes
October 19, 2011

Historical Examples of alliteration

Nikita, surnamed Necator, with a sinister aptness of alliteration!
Under Western Eyes
Joseph Conrad
The "Cape to Cairo" railroad is another case of alliteration.
Folkways
William Graham Sumner
Alliteration and rhyme together will, I am afraid, be too much for me.
Lavengro
George Borrow
The alliteration is without complexity,--a dreary procession of sibilants.
Milton
Sir Walter Alexander Raleigh
Consonance is very similar to this latter form of alliteration.
The Principles of English Versification
Paull Franklin Baum

British Dictionary definitions for alliteration

alliteration

noun

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

Derived Formsalliterative, adjective

Word Origin for alliteration

C17: from Medieval Latin alliterātiō (from Latin al- (see ad-) + litera letter), on the model of obliterātiō obliteration

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

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 in Culture

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.”