alliteration

noun

al·​lit·​er·​a·​tion ə-ˌli-tə-ˈrā-shən 

: the repetition of usually initial consonant sounds in two or more neighboring words or syllables (such as wild and woolly, threatening throngs)

called also head rhyme, initial rhyme

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What is alliteration?

In alliteration, consonant sounds in two or more neighboring words or syllables are repeated. The repeated sounds are usually the first, or initial, sounds—as in "seven sisters"—but repetition of sounds in non-initial stressed, or accented, syllables is also common: "appear and report." Alliteration is a common feature in poetry, but it is also found in songs and raps and speeches and other kinds of writing, as well as in frequently used phrases, such as "pretty as a picture" and "dead as a doornail."

Alliteration can in its simplest form reinforce one or two consonant sounds, as in this line from William Shakespeare's "Sonnet XII":

When I do count the clock that tells the time

A more complex pattern of alliteration can be created when consonants both at the beginning of words and at the beginning of stressed syllables within words are repeated, as in the following line from Percy Bysshe Shelley's "Stanzas Written in Dejection Near Naples":

The City's voice itself is soft like Solitude's

As a poetic device, alliteration is often discussed with assonance, the repetition of stressed vowel sounds within two or more words with different end consonants, as in "stony" and "holy"; and consonance, the repetition of end or medial consonants, as in "stroke" and "luck."

Examples of alliteration in a Sentence

As far as sound repetition goes, I don't have any principles. I try to stay away from heavy alliteration and other pyrotechnics because I think they detract from the sense of the poem and blur the imagery. —Maxine Kumin, "A Questionnaire," 1977, in To Make a Prairie,  1979

More specifically, how are actual events deformed by the application to them of metaphor, rhetorical comparison, prose rhythm, assonance, alliteration, allusion, and sentence structures and connectives implying clear causality? —Paul Fussel, The Great War and Modern Memory, 1975

Recent Examples on the Web

Pardon the alliteration, but Rockies road rallies are really rare. —Patrick Saunders, Denver Post, 16 June 2025

Her language moves the way the turtle does, with a deliberate, clumsy gait, carrying bulky rhymes and blocks of alliteration on plodding feet. —A.o. Scott, New York Times, 13 June 2025

They are often characterized by clever alliteration. —Charlie Fink, Forbes.com, 12 June 2025

And, for the first time, BBQ, Blues and Brews will boast a beer garden — sorry, the alliteration got a little out of control — with craft brewskis from several regional breweries. —Rod Stafford Hagwood, Sun Sentinel, 28 May 2025

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from New Latin allīterātiōn-, allīterātiō, from Latin ad- ad- + lītera "letter" + -ātiōn-, -ātiō -ation — more at letter entry 1

Note: Word apparently coined by the Italian humanist Giovanni Pontano (ca. 1426-1503) in the dialogue Actius (written 1495-99, first printed 1507).

First Known Use

circa 1624, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for alliteration

• abbreviation
• abomination
• acceleration
• accentuation
• accommodation
• accreditation
• acculturation
• accumulation
• acetylation
• adjudication
• administration
• adulteration

Kids Definition

alliteration

noun

al·​lit·​er·​a·​tion ə-ˌlit-ə-ˈrā-shən 

: the repetition of a sound at the beginning of two or more neighboring words (as in wild and woolly or a babbling brook)

alliterative

ə-ˈlit-ə-ˌrāt-iv

-rət-

adjective

alliteratively adverb