alliterative

Also found in: Thesaurus, Medical, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia.

al·lit·er·a·tive

(ə-lĭt′ə-rā′tĭv, -ər-ə-)

adj.

Of, showing, or characterized by alliteration.

al·lit′er·a′tive·ly adv.

al·lit′er·a′tive·ness n.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Switch to new thesaurus

Adj.

alliterative - having the same consonant at the beginning of each stressed syllable; "alliterative verse"

rhymed, rhyming, riming - having corresponding sounds especially terminal sounds; "rhymed verse"; "rhyming words"

Translations

alliterative

[əˈlɪtərətɪv] ADJ → aliterado

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

alliterative

[əˈlɪtərətɪv] adj → allitératif/iveall-night [ˌɔːlˈnaɪt] adj [shop, café] → ouvert(e) toute la nuit; [party, meeting] → qui dure toute la nuitall-nighter [ˌɔːlˈnaɪtə^r] n (partying) → nuit f de fête; (working) → nuit f de travail

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

alliterative

adj → alliterierend

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

References in classic literature ?

Three of the accented syllables, generally two in the first half and one in the second half of the line, were alliterative. That is, they began with the same letter.

Layamon wrote his Brut more than a hundred years after the coming of the Normans, and although his poem is in the main alliterative, sometimes he has rhyming lines such as "mochel dal heo iwesten: mid harmen pen mesten," that is:--

View in context

Standing at the beginning of British (and English) history, his name came to be applied to the whole of it, just as the first two Greek letters, alpha and beta, have given the name to the alphabet.] Laghamon was a humble parish priest in Worcestershire, and his thirty-two thousand half-lines, in which he imperfectly follows the Anglo-Saxon alliterative meter, are rather crude; though they are by no means dull, rather are often strong with the old-time Anglo-Saxon fighting spirit.

The meter, also, is interesting--the Anglo-Saxon unrimed alliterative verse, but divided into long stanzas of irregular length, each ending in a 'bob' of five short riming lines.

View in context

An alliterative prefix served as an ornament of oratory.

View in context

Squeak, squeak, squeak, without a gesture, without a stir--the horrible squeaky burlesque of professional jealousy--this man of a sinister alliterative nickname, this executioner of revolutionary verdicts, the terrifying N.N.

View in context

He may have classic superhero traits - alliterative name, book smarts, strength - but this is an origin story steeped in darkness; as Dunn discovers his powers and experiences an extreme form of puberty, he makes Damien from The Omen look like a choirboy.

Would-be hero takes devilishly dark turn; Brightburn (15) ..

On the bright side, it is surely an opportunity for our own Andy Boddington, the Lib Dem's local worthy, to make a transformational, alliterative and more descriptive change to the title of his blog.

The Lib Dems have 'found their true level'

English Alliterative Verse: Poetic Tradition and Literary History.

Alliterative Metre and Medieval English Literary History. A Critical Review of

The beautifully alliterative,strict metre poetry appears in the 13th century Book of Aneirin ("Aneirin: Y Gododdin", The Welsh Classics, Gomer Press).

Arthur: no mention of the Welsh link

Of The many wrenches thrown By J.R.R Tolkien into modern literature, arguably the one least likely to succeed was his attempt to foment a 20thcentury alliterative revival in poetry: that is, rendering into modern English the techniques and structures common to Old Norse and Anglo-Saxon verse.

Paul Edwin Zimmer's alliterative style: A metrical legacy of J.R.R. Tolkien and Poul Anderson

American sailors brought "Liverpool kiss" over the Atlantic; originally a blow to the face, later a headbutt, it's now better known as the more alliterative "Kirkby kiss".