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assonance

Pronunciation: /ˈas(ə)nəns/

Definition of assonance

noun

[mass noun]
  • resemblance of sound between syllables of nearby words, arising particularly from the rhyming of two or more stressed vowels, but not consonants (e.g. sonnet, porridge), but also from the use of identical consonants with different vowels (e.g. killed, cold, culled): the use of assonance throughout the poem creates the sound of despair [count noun]:alliterative assonances such as ‘fail’ and ‘fall’ are very common in Old English poetry

Derivatives

assonant

adjective

assonate

Pronunciation: /-neɪt/

verb

Origin:

early 18th century: from French, from Latin assonare 'respond to', from ad- 'to' + sonare (from sonus 'sound')

assonance in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of assonance in the US English dictionary