couplet

American  

[kuhp-lit] / ˈkʌp lɪt /

noun

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.

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couplet British  

/ ˈkʌplɪt /

noun

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

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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.

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Etymology

Origin of couplet

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

Example Sentences

So fullness of that scene did have to be compressed down to that little couplet.

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

As she read the rhyming couplet inscribed in a large clay jar made before the Civil War, the 84-year-old Northeast D.C. resident could feel pain and loneliness in the anguished voice of her enslaved ancestor.

From Washington Post • Apr. 2, 2023

“And perhaps the sun blows kisses to the moon as it departs/they work two separate shifts with one beating heart” is a representative couplet from Hal’s verse.

From New York Times • Oct. 27, 2022

To avoid monotony Dawkins inverts the structure of one of the lines in this couplet.

From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker

Related Words

• verse