sonnet

noun

son·​net ˈsä-nət 

: a fixed verse form of Italian origin consisting of 14 lines that are typically 5-foot iambics rhyming according to a prescribed scheme

also : a poem in this pattern

Examples of sonnet in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

In his sonnets, Shakespeare pairs was with glass, and warmed with disarmed. — Literary Hub, 25 June 2026

Today’s large language models can write sonnets and debug code. — Nicole Fraenkel, Fortune, 6 Mar. 2026

After all, no poet talks seriously about doing statistical regression on sonnets to find the optimal ones. — Konstantin Kakaes, Quanta Magazine, 13 Apr. 2026

My expertise, for example, is in the African American sonnet tradition. — Jay Caspian Kang, New Yorker, 12 May 2026

Word History

Etymology

Italian sonetto, from Old Occitan sonet little song, from son sound, song, from Latin sonus sound

First Known Use

circa 1555, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing sonnet

• English sonnet
• Italian sonnet
• Petrarchan sonnet
• Shakespearean sonnet
• sonnet sequence

Rhymes for sonnet

• propionate

Kids Definition

sonnet

noun

son·​net ˈsän-ət 

: a poem of 14 lines usually rhyming by a fixed scheme