sonnet

[ son-it ]

/ ˈsɒn ɪt /

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noun

Prosody. a poem, properly expressive of a single, complete thought, idea, or sentiment, of 14 lines, usually in iambic pentameter, with rhymes arranged according to one of certain definite schemes, being in the strict or Italian form divided into a major group of 8 lines (the octave) followed by a minor group of 6 lines (the sestet), and in a common English form into 3 quatrains followed by a couplet.

verb (used without object)

Archaic. to compose sonnets.

verb (used with object)

Older Use. to celebrate in a sonnet or sonnets.

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Origin of sonnet

1550–60; <Italian sonnetto<Old Provençal sonet, equivalent to son poem (<Latin sonussound¹) + -et-et

OTHER WORDS FROM sonnet

son·net·like, adjectiveoutsonnet, verb (used with object)

Words nearby sonnet

sonic boom, sonic depth finder, sonics, soniferous, son-in-law, sonnet, sonneteer, sonnetize, sonnet sequence, Sonnets from the Portuguese, sonny

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022

How to use sonnet in a sentence

He wrote published sonnets and read widely, encouraging others.
Activist, writer John Stephen Hunt dies at 85|Staff reports|March 30, 2021|Washington Blade
Is it possible to follow up a school-shooting episode with lines from Sonnet 116?
Television’s Finest Schlock: The ‘Sons of Anarchy’ Episode ‘One One Six’ Is So Damn Shakespearean|Paula Szuchman|September 18, 2013|DAILY BEAST
Your character in Wit seeks strength in the Holy Sonnets of John Donne, especially his Holy Sonnet 10, “Death Be Not Proud.”
Cynthia Nixon on Bisexuality & Her New Role in ‘Wit’|Kevin Sessums|January 24, 2012|DAILY BEAST
The new book celebrates the sonnet's uneven return to grace.
The Best of Brit Lit|Peter Stothard|June 8, 2010|DAILY BEAST

The sonnet is a sort of poetical fugue in which the theme ought to pass and repass until its final resolution in a given form.
Charles Baudelaire, His Life|Thophile Gautier
One man wrote a sonnet to the woman, verses in her honor, telling about her beautiful eyes.
Tiger Cat|David H. Keller
The principal classes of lyric poetry are the song, the ode, the elegy, and the sonnet.
English: Composition and Literature|W. F. (William Franklin) Webster
A sonnet is a lyric that deals with a single thought, idea, or sentiment in a fixed metrical form.
English: Composition and Literature|W. F. (William Franklin) Webster
As Mr. Rossetti has noted in an exquisite sonnet, his mind remained always at liberty.
Sir Walter Ralegh|William Stebbing

British Dictionary definitions for sonnet

sonnet

/ (ˈsɒnɪt) prosody /

noun

a verse form of Italian origin consisting of 14 lines in iambic pentameter with rhymes arranged according to a fixed scheme, usually divided either into octave and sestet or, in the English form, into three quatrains and a couplet

verb

(intr) to compose sonnets

(tr) to celebrate in a sonnet

Word Origin for sonnet

C16: via Italian from Old Provençal sonet a little poem, from son song, from Latin sonus a sound

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

Cultural definitions for sonnet

sonnet

A lyric poem of fourteen lines, often about love, that follows one of several strict conventional patterns of rhyme. Elizabeth Barrett Browning, John Keats, and William Shakespeare are poets known for their sonnets.

sonnet

Origin of sonnet

OTHER WORDS FROM sonnet

Words nearby sonnet

Words related to sonnet

How to use sonnet in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for sonnet

Word Origin for sonnet

Cultural definitions for sonnet