poet
noun
a person who composes poetry.
poet
1 American
[poh-it]
/ ˈpoʊ ɪt /
poet.
2
American
abbreviation
-
poetic.
-
poetical.
-
poetry.
poet
British
/ ˈpəʊɪt /
noun
-
a person who writes poetry
-
a person with great imagination and creativity
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
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.”
Vocabulary lists containing poet
Reading: Literature - Poetry - Introductory
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Reading: Literature - Poetry - Middle School
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Reading: Literature - Middle School
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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:
Carrero, already a poet, scholar, political organizer and nightlife host, would flaunt yet another title that weekend as wedding officiant.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 15, 2026
Cuban American poet Kyle Carrero Lopez first learned what sanctions were as a child — not as a political measure, but as a gendered one.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 15, 2026
It was favourite spot for poet John Betjeman, who once gave an impassioned speech in defence of the restaurant when it was under threat of redevelopment.
From BBC ● Oct. 14, 2026
Earlier this week, the prizes for medicine, physics, chemistry and literature were announced in Stockholm, with the latter going to Canadian poet Anne Carson on Thursday for her modern twists on Greek mythology and antiquity.
From Barron's ● Oct. 9, 2026
But since he has returned with the dwarfs’ mead, he has become a poet and a dreamer.”
From "Norse Mythology" by Neil Gaiman
“But I love that song so much. It makes me feel like I’m living in a dream. She’s my favorite poet. I adore her.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 20, 2023
“Culture isn’t dead. We have a governor who’s a poet. How great is that?” said Bushell, who has since published “Balancing Act 2: An Anthology of Poems by Fifty Maine Women.”
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 13, 2023
"He was a great scientific mind as well as a great artist and poet. I find the whole spiritual side of him fascinating and he was an artist from humble stock."
From BBC ● Jun. 18, 2021
"Bob Dylan is a great poet. It's as simple as that," the academy's permanent secretary, Sara Danius, told The Associated Press.
From US News ● Oct. 13, 2016
"Oddly enough, this wasn't written by a practicing poet. It was written by a psychoanalyst named Wilhelm Stekel. Here's what he--Are you still with me?"
From "The Catcher in the Rye" by J. D. Salinger
It references a number of the city's poets, the punk explosion and bands and clubs of the time.
From BBC ● Oct. 4, 2026
Under the Soviet Union, dissident artists, poets and creators distributed their work within small, private networks, according to Ingold.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 28, 2026
Hosts of spiritual-minded sorts called it home: Alan Watts popularized Zen Buddhism in the ’60s, alongside poets Gary Snyder and Kenneth Rexroth.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 4, 2026
He carries his survey up to the present day and writes adeptly about three currently active poets: Alice Oswald, Sasha Dugdale and A.E.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026
It was a walled city for poets and astronomers and every shade of thinker in between.
From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
