assonance

[ as-uh-nuh ns ]
/ ˈæs ə nəns /
SEE SYNONYMS FOR assonance ON THESAURUS.COM

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.

QUIZZES

HEED THE VOX POPULI, AND TAKE THIS WORD OF THE DAY QUIZ!

Test your memory on these verbal firecrackers from the week of June 29 to July 5!
Question 1 of 7
anchorite
a granular metamorphic rock.
a person who has retired to a solitary place for a life of religious seclusion.
a hobble or fetter for a horse or other animal.
TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT

Origin of assonance

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

OTHER WORDS FROM assonance

as·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

Words nearby assonance

associative learning, associative neuron, associative storage, assoil, assoluta, assonance, assort, assortative mating, assorted, assortment, assr
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2020

Words related to assonance

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

Example sentences from the Web for assonance

British Dictionary definitions for assonance

assonance
/ (ˈæsənəns) /

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 forms of assonance

assonant, 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