clerihew

Definition of clerihewnext

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of clerihew Edited by Dava Sobel NOTE: A clerihew is a four-line poetic format invented in 1905 by Edmund Clerihew Bentley, who wrote humorous rhymes about all manner of persons, making frivolous fun of their names. Melissa Dehner, Scientific American, 26 Mar. 2021 Easy to write and fun to read, entrants were asked to write a clerihew that describes a famous scientist or other person, or event closely associated with fire. William Gurstelle, WIRED, 16 Aug. 2011
Recent Examples of Synonyms for clerihew
Noun
  • The book begins, though, with an earlier poem, written when Tennyson was just twenty.
    Kathryn Hughes, The New York Review of Books, 4 Apr. 2026
  • To celebrate, the Literary Hub staff will be recommending one great poem to read every (work) day of the month.
    Emily Temple, Literary Hub, 3 Apr. 2026
Noun
  • In the Village Voice, where the Consumer Guide became one of the fabled alt-weekly’s go-to features from the ’70s through the ’90s, Christgau wrote like a possessed fan who breathed insight, making every capsule sound like a psychedelic sonnet.
    Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 29 Mar. 2026
  • The tracklist includes songs set in every season and a sonnet-like ode to an ice-cold Staropramen.
    Shaad D’Souza, Pitchfork, 21 Mar. 2026
Noun
  • Holmes’ feed is a babbling stream of self-help epigrams, ankle-deep reflections and many, many photos of herself.
    Mark Z. Barabak, Mercury News, 10 Dec. 2025
  • That celebrated epigram is delivered by the character of Octave, who is the greatest creation of Renoir’s career—not least because he’s played by Renoir in a performance that’s essentially a self-portrait, even an onscreen self-creation.
    Richard Brody, New Yorker, 30 July 2025
Noun
  • He was also known for his haikus and limericks, including some written to summarize ethics.
    Elliott Wenzler, Denver Post, 2 Apr. 2026
  • These can then be assembled to capture the ladder of logical complexity: patterns of patterns, such as limericks or subject-verb agreement.
    Gideon Lewis-Kraus, New Yorker, 9 Feb. 2026
Noun
  • From the sixteenth to the nineteenth century, villanelle was simply the French term for an Italian country song, and during the Renaissance, poets often used the title for their work regardless of a poem’s specific structure.
    The Editors, JSTOR Daily, 19 Aug. 2025
  • Elongated and paved with bricks, the path is a closed form, a kind of physical villanelle that thwarts the experience of continuity or the feeling of finitude.
    Hamilton Cain, BostonGlobe.com, 2 Mar. 2023
Noun
  • The epitome of that tradition is Choral Evensong, an evening service of hymns, psalms and prayers laid out by Archbishop Thomas Cranmer, the first Protestant archbishop of the Church of England, in 1549.
    ABC News, ABC News, 5 Apr. 2026
  • After all, audiences may be captivated by the psalm singing itself, but then can also find more things that capture their imagination in the observational doc.
    Georg Szalai, HollywoodReporter, 27 Feb. 2026
Noun
  • And maybe one of those records was… The bard of New England dares to get meaningful on this two-part song, which begins by pondering the mysteries of time and ends with a singalong ode to seasonal renewal.
    Brett Milano, Boston Herald, 5 Apr. 2026
  • So, for their Naples apartment, the two young medics wanted to craft an ode to colorful living.
    Ludovica Stevan, Architectural Digest, 5 Apr. 2026
Noun
  • To say an elegy by heart/to zero our dying before birth.
    Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 1 Apr. 2026
  • The show, a sort of elegy for Gen X, opens with a flash-forward to July 16, 1999, the final hours of Carolyn and John.
    Doreen St. Félix, New Yorker, 14 Feb. 2026

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“Clerihew.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/clerihew. Accessed 11 Apr. 2026.

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