assonance

[as-uh-nuh ns]

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noun

resemblance of sounds.

Also called vowel rhyme. Prosody. rhyme in which the same vowel sounds are used with different consonants in the stressed syllables of the rhyming words, as in penitent and reticence.

partial agreement or correspondence.

Origin of assonance

1720–30; < French, equivalent to asson(ant) sounding in answer (see as-, sonant) + -ance -ance

Related formsas·so·nant, adjective, nounas·so·nan·tal

[as-uh-nan-tl] /ˌæs əˈnæn tl/, as·so·nan·tic, adjectivenon·as·so·nance, nounnon·as·so·nant, adjective, noun

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

Related Words for assonance

chant, inflection, refrain, theme, music, lyric, unison, consonance, run, strain, aria, song, concord, chime, air, euphony, lay, measure, carillon, resonance

Examples from the Web for assonance

Historical Examples of assonance

Not being able to preserve the assonance, I have dropped the greater part of his title.
Russian Fairy Tales
W. R. S. Ralston
It is an example of assonance which is lost in the translation.
The Gegence; A Comedy Ballet in the Nahuatl-Spanish Dialect of Nicaragua
Daniel G. Brinton
It is, we might say, a rhythm of thought, an assonance of feeling.
Music in the History of the Western Church
Edward Dickinson
Yet there is an amount of assonance, which at times approaches to rhyme.
The Expositor's Bible
George Adam Smith
In our ode there is not much either of assonance or alliteration.
The Book of Isaiah, Volume I (of 2)
George Adam Smith

British Dictionary definitions for assonance

assonance

noun

the use of the same vowel sound with different consonants or the same consonant with different vowels in successive words or stressed syllables, as in a line of verse. Examples are time and light or mystery and mastery

partial correspondence; rough similarity

Derived Formsassonant, adjective, nounassonantal (ˌæsəˈnæntəl), adjective

Word Origin for assonance

C18: from French, from Latin assonāre to sound, from sonāre to sound

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 assonance

1727, "resemblance of sounds between words," from French assonance, from assonant, from Latin assonantem (nominative assonans), present participle of assonare "to resound, respond to," from ad- "to" (see ad-) + sonare "to sound" (see sonata). Properly, in prosody, "rhyming of accented vowels, but not consonants" (1823).