- a variation of rhyme.
rime
1 Americannoun
verb (used with object)
-
rimes,
present (3rd person singular)
-
rimed,
past participle, past
-
riming
present participle
noun
noun
verb
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
rimesimple
-
rimessimple
-
have rimedperfect
-
has rimedperfect
-
am rimingprogressive
-
are rimingprogressive
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is rimingprogressive
-
have been rimingperfect progressive
-
has been rimingperfect progressive
Past
-
rimedsimple
-
had rimedperfect
-
was rimingprogressive
-
were rimingprogressive
-
had been rimingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of rime
before 900; Middle English rim, Old English hrīm; cognate with Dutch rijm, Old Norse hrīm
Explanation
Rime is a type of ice that forms when the moisture in fog freezes suddenly on an object. The white frost that forms on trees along mountain ridges is rime. Rime can cause trouble for aircraft, as it also forms when a cloud's water droplets freeze to a surface, like the metal body of an airplane. Another, completely different, meaning of this word is "rhyme." It's simply an old-fashioned way to refer to the ending sounds of two words that sound alike — like "mouse" and "house." And "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" is just a very long, very old, rhyming poem.
Vocabulary lists containing rime
"Once Upon a Time," Vocabulary from the short story
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Heir
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Inferno
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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:
At the rime, Qantas said it had agreed to pay the fine and that the ruling holds it accountable for actions that caused "real harm" to its employees.
From BBC ● Mar. 12, 2026
Crisp, opaque rime — now doesn’t that roll trippingly off the tongue?
From Washington Post ● Apr. 8, 2022
Standing around amid the fumaroles, bison are sheeted with a hundred pounds of rime and icicles.
From Salon ● Apr. 21, 2019
We used to call these “family words” when I was a kid: rat, bat, cat, mat, etc., all have the “-at” rime with different consonant onsets.
From Slate ● Nov. 29, 2018
For some rime, while I am crawling about, she has rocking-chair work.
From "Taste of Salt: A Story of Modern Haiti" by Frances Temple
If the riming is particularly intense, the rimed snow crystal can grow to an appreciable size, but remain less than 0.2 inches.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 24, 2023
On the beach the sand was frozen in crusts and rimed with frost.
From The Guardian ● Mar. 23, 2021
Pine needles grow their own ice needles, turning into rimed maces.
From Scientific American ● Nov. 18, 2019
The air was deadly cold; spicules of ice rimed the oldtimer's whiskers.
From Time Magazine Archive
Here at last the snow crown began,- Sky's weathered stones were rimed with frost, and long spears of ice hung from the slopes above.
From "A Game of Thrones" by George R.R. Martin
If the riming is particularly intense, the rimed snow crystal can grow to an appreciable size, but remain less than 0.2 inches.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 24, 2023
The characteristic feature of this stanza is the presence of two short lines riming together and serving as "tails" to the first and second parts of the body of the stanza.
From English Verse Specimens Illustrating its Principles and History by Raymond MacDonald Alden
Full rime, or end-rime, involves the principally stressed vowel in the riming word, and all that follows that vowel.
From English Verse Specimens Illustrating its Principles and History by Raymond MacDonald Alden
The presence of alternate riming sonnets and doggerel rime on the one hand, and of a number of double endings on the other, render 1592 a reasonable date.
From An Introduction to Shakespeare by H. N. MacCracken
Mickiewicz improvised a verse riming Domejko with Dowejko.
From Pan Tadeusz Or, the Last Foray in Lithuania; a Story of Life Among Polish Gentlefolk in the Years 1811 and 1812 by George Rapall Noyes
We've our business to attend Day's duties, bend back the bow in dreams as we may till the end rimes in the taut string with the sending.
From Time Magazine Archive
"His armor is bronze, thousands and thousands of years old, engraved with magic rimes that ward him against harm," she whis-pered to Jeyne.
From "A Game of Thrones" by George R.R. Martin
For half a heartbeat the rimes graven on the gold bands seemed to shimmer in the air.
From "A Dance with Dragons" by George R. R. Martin
That huge horn with its bands of old gold, incised with ancient rimes ... had Mance Rayder lied to him, or was Tormund lying now?
From "A Dance with Dragons" by George R. R. Martin
Walter, the Scot, is forgiven his rimes Because of his tales of stirring times.
From Impertinent Poems by Edmund Vance Cooke
Definitions 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.
