couplet

American  

[kuhp-lit] / ˈkʌp lɪt /

noun

couplets plural

1. a pair of successive lines of verse, especially a pair that rhyme and are of the same length.

2. a pair; couple.

3. Music. any of the contrasting sections of a rondo occurring between statements of the refrain.

---

couplet British  

/ ˈkʌplɪt /

noun

1. two successive lines of verse, usually rhymed and of the same metre

---

couplet Cultural  

1. A pair of lines of verse that rhyme. Some poems, such as “The Night Before Christmas,” are written entirely in couplets:

   `Twas the night before Christmas , when all through the house

   Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;

   The stockings were hung by the chimney with care

   In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there.

---

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• couplets
  plural

Etymology

Origin of couplet

From Middle French, dating back to 1570–80; see origin at couple, -et

Explanation

A couplet is two lines of poetry that usually rhyme. Here's a famous couplet: "Good night! Good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow / That I shall say good night till it be morrow." The couplet above comes from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, which is a play, not a poem. But Shakespeare often used rhyming couplets at the end of scenes to signal the ending. Couplets are very common in poetry. Often whole poems are written in couplet form — two lines of rhyming poetry, followed by two more lines with a different rhyme, and so on. Robert Frost, one of America's great poets, wrote many poems using couplets.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

couplet couplets

Austria has the best opening couplet of the year: "I'm an ocean of love / And you're scared of water."

From BBC ● May 16, 2025

But I think that couplet is really powerful and it did what we wanted it to do.

From Salon ● Aug. 12, 2024

“My heart stopped beating long ago / It pours out like a river,” one couplet goes.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 26, 2024

The title, “Doha,” — the word means couplet — refers to a couplet by the 18th-century Urdu poet Mir Taqi Mir, about the delicacy of the universe.

From New York Times ● Sep. 1, 2022

“Iambic pentameter, and a rhyming couplet, too,” she said, pleased with her effort.

From "The Interrupted Tale" by Maryrose Wood

She planned to hang traditional Chinese couplets -- usually on auspicious red paper -- before sharing a family meal.

From Barron's ● Feb. 13, 2026

Both books tell a tale about an adventure in a woodland full of animals, with the story told in rhyming couplets.

From BBC ● Feb. 6, 2026

He is the author of three collections of lyric poems and two book-length narrative poems in heroic couplets that nearly defy summary.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 26, 2025

There are, in fact, some rather disturbing rhymed couplets, if you will.

From Salon ● Jul. 30, 2024

The sluggers turned as a unit to look toward the source of the noise, but Jesse hadn’t noticed and was still talking about memory, this time in rhyming couplets.

From "We Are the Ants" by Shaun David Hutchinson

Related Words

• verse