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alliteration
" Everybody has a language or code that they use with their wife or their girlfriend or boyfriend or what have you. It's a language aside from the language they have with strangers. I've always been maybe an abuser of alliteration, but I've always loved it and I like how those words sound together."
Ben Gibbard

Meaning of "alliteration" in the English dictionary

DICTIONARY

ETYMOLOGY OF THE WORD ALLITERATION

From Medieval Latin alliterātiō (from Latin al- (see ad-) + litera letter), on the model of obliterātiōobliteration.
Etymology is the study of the origin of words and their changes in structure and significance.

PRONUNCIATION OF ALLITERATION

əˌlɪtəˈreɪʃən


GRAMMATICAL CATEGORY OF ALLITERATION

noun
adjective
verb
adverb
pronoun
preposition
conjunction
determiner
exclamation
Alliteration is a noun.
A noun is a type of word the meaning of which determines reality. Nouns provide the names for all things: people, objects, sensations, feelings, etc.

WHAT DOES ALLITERATION MEAN IN ENGLISH?

Alliteration

Alliteration is the repetition of the same sounds or of the same kinds of sounds at the beginning of words or in stressed syllables of a phrase. Alliteration developed largely through poetry, in which it more narrowly refers to the repetition of a consonant in any syllables that, according to the poem's meter, are stressed, as in James Thomson's verse "Come…dragging the lazy languid Line along". Another example is, "Peter Piper Picked a Peck of Pickled Peppers". Consonance is another 'phonetic agreement' akin to alliteration. It refers to the repetition of consonant sounds. Alliteration is a special case of consonance where the repeated consonant sound is at the stressed syllable. Alliteration may also include the use of different consonants with similar properties such as alliterating z with s, as does Tolkien in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, or as Anglo-Saxon poets would alliterate hard/fricative g with soft g; this is known as license. There is one specialised form of alliteration called Symmetrical Alliteration. That is, alliteration containing parallelism.

Definition of alliteration in the English dictionary

The definition of alliteration in the dictionary is the use of the same consonant or of a vowel, not necessarily the same vowel, at the beginning of each word or each stressed syllable in a line of verse, as in around the rock the ragged rascal ran.

WORDS THAT RHYME WITH ALLITERATION

acceleration · collaboration · configuration · consideration · cooperation · corporation · declaration · decoration · deliberation · duration · expiration · exploration · federation · generation · incorporation · inspiration · operation · preparation · restoration · separation

WORDS THAT BEGIN LIKE ALLITERATION

allicin · allied · allied health professional · allied health professions · Allier · allies · alligarta · alligate · alligation · alligator · alligator pear · alligator pepper · allineation · Allingham · allis · allis shad · alliterate · alliterative · alliteratively · allium

WORDS THAT END LIKE ALLITERATION

accreditation · action · administration · animation · application · association · certification · citation · combination · communication · confirmation · conversation · creation · destination · documentation · education · evaluation · excitation · formation · foundation · hesitation

Synonyms and antonyms of alliteration in the English dictionary of synonyms

SYNONYMS

Translation of «alliteration» into 25 languages

TRANSLATOR

TRANSLATION OF ALLITERATION

Find out the translation of alliteration to 25 languages with our English multilingual translator.

The translations of alliteration from English to other languages presented in this section have been obtained through automatic statistical translation; where the essential translation unit is the word «alliteration» in English.
zh

Translator English - Chinese

头韵
1,325 millions of speakers
es

Translator English - Spanish

aliteración
570 millions of speakers
en

English

alliteration
510 millions of speakers
hi

Translator English - Hindi

अनुप्रास
380 millions of speakers
ar

Translator English - Arabic

الجناس
280 millions of speakers
ru

Translator English - Russian

аллитерация
278 millions of speakers
pt

Translator English - Portuguese

aliteração
270 millions of speakers
bn

Translator English - Bengali

অনুপ্রাস
260 millions of speakers
fr

Translator English - French

allitération
220 millions of speakers
ms

Translator English - Malay

Alliteration
190 millions of speakers
de

Translator English - German

Alliteration
180 millions of speakers
ja

Translator English - Japanese

頭韻
130 millions of speakers
ko

Translator English - Korean

두운
85 millions of speakers
jv

Translator English - Javanese

Alliterasi
85 millions of speakers
vi

Translator English - Vietnamese

phép điệp vận
80 millions of speakers
ta

Translator English - Tamil

பங்கு கொடு
75 millions of speakers
mr

Translator English - Marathi

अनुप्रवाह
75 millions of speakers
tr

Translator English - Turkish

aliterasyon
70 millions of speakers
it

Translator English - Italian

allitterazione
65 millions of speakers
pl

Translator English - Polish

aliteracja
50 millions of speakers
uk

Translator English - Ukrainian

алітерація
40 millions of speakers
ro

Translator English - Romanian

aliterație
30 millions of speakers
el

Translator English - Greek

παρήχηση
15 millions of speakers
af

Translator English - Afrikaans

alliterasie
14 millions of speakers
sv

Translator English - Swedish

allitteration
10 millions of speakers
no

Translator English - Norwegian

allitterasjon
5 millions of speakers

Trends of use of alliteration

TRENDS

TENDENCIES OF USE OF THE TERM «ALLITERATION»

Principal search tendencies and common uses of alliteration
List of principal searches undertaken by users to access our English online dictionary and most widely used expressions with the word «alliteration».

Examples of use in the English literature, quotes and news about alliteration

EXAMPLES

2 QUOTES WITH «ALLITERATION»

Famous quotes and sentences with the word alliteration.
1
Ben Gibbard
Everybody has a language or code that they use with their wife or their girlfriend or boyfriend or what have you. It's a language aside from the language they have with strangers. I've always been maybe an abuser of alliteration, but I've always loved it and I like how those words sound together.
2
Karen Russell
I remember writing these terrible poems when I was, like, nine and discovered alliteration.

10 ENGLISH BOOKS RELATING TO «ALLITERATION»

Discover the use of alliteration in the following bibliographical selection. Books relating to alliteration and brief extracts from same to provide context of its use in English literature.
1
If You Were Alliteration
Provides an introduction to alliterations, which are sounds repeated at the beginning of two or more words in a phrase or sentence. Includes an activity.
Nick Fauchald, 2008
2
Alliteration: An Alliterated Allocution by the Letter A ...
This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishing's Legacy Reprint Series.
James Nelson Hulme, 2010
3
Alliteration and Sound Change in Early English
The analysis draws on phonetically based Optimality-Theoretic models. The book presents valuable information about the medieval poetic canon and elucidates the relationship between orality and literacy in the evolution of English verse.
Donka Minkova, 2003
4
ADVENTURES IN ALLITERATION
Alliterative poems, short stories, and pithy proverbs in this book abound with humor, social comment, and even silliness. If you want a laugh, a jolt, or just a smile, you need to curl up with this book and get ready for the unexpected.
JOEL L. MEREDITH, 2000
5
Alliteration, Again and Again
The genesis of the alliterations in this book was an email exchange in 2001 with a colleague in Albany, New York.
Larry J. Kricka, 2013
6
Alliteration in the Chanson de Roland and in the Carmen de ...
This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923.
Alexander Haggerty Krappe, 2011
7
Wise Words: Alliteration in the Liturgy: Volume: 5
An adult study resource for exploring the words and phrases in The Book of Common Prayer.
Nancy Dering Martin, 2004
8
Alliteration in Culture
Alliteration is all around us. From lovers of tongue-twisters to the work of political speech-writers, many make use of the trick of beginning words with the same sounds. What effect does alliteration have? What history does it have?
Jonathan Roper, 2011
9
The Alliteration of Chaucer...
This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923.
Charles Flint McClumpha, 2012
10
Figurative Poetry in Sanskrit Literature
The verbal figures of speech on which this depends, or from which the charm of Sabdacitra originates, are, broadly speaking, alliteration (Anuprasa) and chime ( Yamaka). The former is of two kinds : the alliteration of letters (Varnanuprasa), ...
K.N. Jha, 1975

10 NEWS ITEMS WHICH INCLUDE THE TERM «ALLITERATION»

Find out what the national and international press are talking about and how the term alliteration is used in the context of the following news items.
1
Why We Still Love Alice In Wonderland
Carroll invents portmanteaus like “slithy” (a combination of “slimy” and “lithe”), creates absurd associations using rhyme and alliteration (as in ... «Science 2.0, Jul 15»
2
Watch: Dave Grohl is back gigging, this time on a Foo Fighters throne
Last month, the Foo Fighters frontman fumbled his femur - ALLITERATION, YES - on-stage, resulting in him having to complete the gig with a ... «Entertainment.ie, Jul 15»
3
A blow to the Republicans is a boon for the Democrats.
... twirling in the spotlight with his hateful screed — one of my colleagues called it “critical candor;” though were I groping for an alliteration I'd go ... «Chicago Sun-Times, Jul 15»
4
Battle flag coveted in the South is one of traitors, slaveholders
As a slogan, it is simply not worth the time it took to come up with that pithy but meaningless alliteration. Frankly, whether the battle flag is about ... «LancasterOnline, Jul 15»
5
'Indira Gandhi's slap story is fabricated, given air in view of the …
Maybe it would have to be rebranded the Mumbai Bakery - alliteration be damned. – Ivan Kostka Crumbling AIDS programme. Thank you for ... «Scroll.in, Jul 15»
6
Predator plants: how NWT's carnivorous vegetation snare their prey
The above may seem like an excerpt from a medieval executioner's to-do list (one with a propensity for alliteration), but it's actually a description ... «CBC.ca, Jul 15»
7
Shark Week: Ranking the Titles of This Year's 14 New Specials
Monster Mako (premieres Sunday, July 5 at 10 p.m.): Good ol'alliteration. Two teams set out to clock how fast the fastest shark in the ocean can ... «Yahoo News, Jul 15»
8
From avatars to apps: why we still love to go down the rabbit hole …
Carroll invents portmanteaus like “slithy” (a combination of “slimy” and “lithe”), creates absurd associations using rhyme and alliteration (as in ... «The Conversation UK, Jul 15»
9
Coming to Netflix this July
Hi all, I'm Dan 'Nailz' Naylor, News Editor for the site (and I've just realised there's a pleasing alliteration to that). Almost all the news posts you ... «God is a Geek, Jul 15»
10
Puff pizza pastries
As well as the wonderful alliteration with this recipe, these pizzas are utterly delightful. Much lighter than regular pizza, they have that fantastic ... «Darlington and Stockton Times, Jul 15»
REFERENCE
« EDUCALINGO. Alliteration [online]. Available <https://educalingo.com/en/dic-en/alliteration>. May 2024 ».
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