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• poet
  poet

  noun

  a person who composes poetry.
• poet.
  poet.

  abbreviation

  poetic.

poet

¹ American  

[poh-it] / ˈpoʊ ɪt /

noun

• poets
  plural

1. a person who composes poetry.

   Synonyms:

   bard, versifier

2. a person who has the gift of poetic thought, imagination, and creation, together with eloquence of expression.

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poet. ² American  

abbreviation

1. poetic.

2. poetical.

3. poetry.

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poet British  

/ ˈpəʊɪt /

noun

1. a person who writes poetry

2. a person with great imagination and creativity

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• nonpoet
  noun
• poetless
  adjective
• poetlike
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• poets
  plural

Etymology

Origin of poet

1250–1300; Middle English poete < Latin poēta < Greek poiētḗs poet, literally, maker, equivalent to poiē-, variant stem of poieîn to make + -tēs agent noun suffix

Explanation

If you’re a poet and you know it, you’re someone who writes poems. Poets have been charming people with their words ever since Orpheus sang his way to Hades and back. A poet is a writer who regularly publishes poems, but a poet can also be anyone who uses language creatively. Try it! The root of poet can be traced back to the Greek poein, "to make." Some poets write in carefully metered, rhyming lines, while others compose looser prose poems or "free verse," and the very best poets convey something that's essential or true. The Romantic poet William Wordsworth described good poetry as “the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings.”

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

poet poet. poets

On Tuesday, Seyfried shared a piece of prose by poet and author Bianca Sparacino on her Instagram stories that read:

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 16, 2026

Now ebullient, now maudlin, Herzen can be suddenly, embarrassingly intimate—as when describing the torment of jealousy that gripped him upon learning of his wife’s brief affair with a German romantic poet, Georg Herwegh.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 2026

Brandi Carlile, Ingrid Michaelson and Andrea Gibson, a poet who died in 2025, are among those who contributed.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 23, 2026

In the ancient world, plagiarism was viewed quite negatively: The word “plagiarism” actually means “kidnapper” in Latin, and the Roman poet Horace described literary theft like a crow making itself beautiful with stolen feathers.

From Salon ● Aug. 23, 2026

“To see,” the poet Paul Valéry once wrote, “is to forget the name of the things that one sees.”

From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee

"To find beauty in ugliness is the province of the poet. The most beautiful defeat of my career."

From BBC ● Apr. 23, 2025

“To underscore the idea that there’s no one way of being a Black poet. That it’s all legitimate.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 14, 2025

I realized, “Oh, the character is a poet. I’m going to step aside and let you, a poet, inhabit the character.”

From New York Times ● Apr. 20, 2023

“With both of those people there is what you might call a touch of the poet. They go deep very quickly and effortlessly. It’s not flimflam,” says Branagh.

From Seattle Times ● Nov. 12, 2021

“It’s the name of a famous poet. Edgar Allan Poe,” Cari said.

From "Out of Darkness" by Ashley Hope Pérez

Its author, Henry Power, a professor of English literature at the University of Exeter, takes his readers through a gallery of English-language poets who have wrestled, over more than four centuries, with Homer’s legacy.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026

Ashbery was always cast as a member of the “New York School” of poets, a category whose very definition and constituents have long been debated.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 24, 2026

The documentary features admiring poets as well as Stephen Colbert, a huge Oliver fan, and the irreverent and colorful John Waters, a longtime friend.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026

She also called on the Eisteddfod to review their entry rules, where poets compete under a pseudonym.

From BBC ● Aug. 3, 2026

Among the thousands of prisoners there were many musicians and actors and poets.

From "An Elephant in the Garden" by Michael Morpurgo

Related Words

• artist
• author
• dramatist
• lyricist
• writer