alliterative
Americanadjective
Usage
What does alliterative mean? Alliterative is an adjective used to describe things that use or are examples of alliteration—the repetition of the same or a similar sound at or near the beginning of each word in a series. The tongue twister Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers is a classic example of alliteration. The sentence uses the same consonant (the letter p) at the beginning of each main word to make it alliterative. Sometimes, alliteration can involve the repetition of not a single letter but the same letter combination, such as tr, as in Trip truly tricked Tracy. It can also be created by the repetition of vowels or vowel sounds, as in Every editor expects excellence. Examples: Many comic book characters have alliterative names, like Clark Kent, Lois Lane, and Wonder Woman.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of alliterative
First recorded in 1755–65; alliterat(ion) + -ive
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.
"There are more set pieces like tonight. It's bigger, bolder..." she pauses, thinking about which word should finish the alliterative description.
From BBC ● May 13, 2026
Now, his latest alliterative venture is S.MPLE, a generative AI platform built in-house to automate the administrative tasks that real-estate agents spend up to 80% of their time on.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 10, 2025
Also, Phil isn't the only fuzzy Nostradamus with an alliterative name that claims predictive powers.
From Salon ● Feb. 2, 2024
That the team had to play “consciously competitive consistently” — an alliterative mouthful that Darvin Ham later edited down.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 4, 2024
My mom once told me that my dad had given me an alliterative name, Wade Watts, because he thought it sounded like the secret identity of a superhero.
From "Ready Player One: A Novel" by Ernest Cline
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
