Skip to content

alliteration

noun

  1. a stylistic literary device identified by the repeated sound of the first letter in a series of multiple words, or the repetition of the same letter sounds in stressed syllables of a phrase
L316186 on Wikidata ↗

Wiktionary

Pronunciation: /əˌlɪtəˈɹeɪʃən/ / [əˌlɪɾəˈɹeɪʃən]

noun

Etymology: From New Latin allīterātiō, from allīterātus, from allīterō, from Latin ad (“to, towards, near”) and lītera (“a letter”).

  1. The repetition of consonant sounds or letters at the beginning of two or more words immediately succeeding each other, or at short intervals; such repetition specifically involving stressed syllables.

    So fish fury all round, as there has been in the past. And as an aside, that alliteration was, sadly, not mine that of a former political correspondent of the Daily Record, John Deans, and applied to the 'cod wars' with Iceland.

  2. The recurrence of the same letters or sounds in accented parts of words, as in Anglo-Saxon alliterative meter.