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internal rhyme

American  
[in-tur-nl rahym] / ˈɪnˌtɜr nl ˈraɪm /

noun

Prosody.
  1. a rhyme created by two or more words in the same line of verse.

  2. a rhyme created by words within two or more lines of a verse.


internal rhyme British  

noun

  1. prosody rhyme that occurs between words within a verse line

"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

Etymology

Origin of internal rhyme

First recorded in 1900–05

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.

See Examples For:

Priscilla Block, “My Bar” Top-shelf internal rhyme from Nashville, where the cheap stuff just won’t do: “Out of the corner of my eye / I see the door guy checking your ID.”

From Los Angeles Times Jun. 22, 2022

But it’s Lil Wayne who’s truly Zen, afloat in a vortex of internal rhyme and syllabic cha-cha.

From New York Times Dec. 4, 2020

The producer zigs with a dusty funk sample that plucks long-forgotten strings or blows tarnished horns, while the rapper zags with a polysyllabic vocal attack that packs in punchlines and internal rhyme.

From Washington Post Nov. 23, 2019

English, in “Briggflatts,” is compacted into mouthfuls crunchy with alliteration and internal rhyme.

From The New Yorker Aug. 2, 2016

Note the happy effect of the internal rhyme in this line.

From The Vision of Sir Launfal And Other Poems by James Russell Lowell; Edited with an Introduction and Notes by Julian W. Abernethy, PH.D. by Lowell, James Russell

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