rhyme

/raɪm/

/raɪm/

Other forms: rhymes; rhyming; rhymed

A rhyme is when the ending sounds of two words sound alike — like "mouse" and "house" or "complain" and "sustain." If you have a knack for rhyme, you might have a bright future as a poet.

“True wit is nature to advantage dress'd; / What oft was thought, but ne'er so well express'd”: lines of rhyme written by English poet Alexander Pope. The way “dress’d” and “express’d” sound, that’s rhyme. Rhyme shares the same Latin root as rhythm, and poetry that rhymes does have a rhythm to it, like in a song. Rhyme is a noun for similar sounds or a poem that uses rhyme, and it’s also a verb, like saying, “What rhymes with orange?”

Definitions of rhyme

1. noun

   correspondence in the sounds of two or more lines (especially final sounds)
   synonyms: rime

   types:

   internal rhyme

   a rhyme between words in the same line

   alliteration, beginning rhyme, head rhyme, initial rhyme

   use of the same consonant at the beginning of each stressed syllable in a line of verse

   assonance, vowel rhyme

   the repetition of similar vowels in the stressed syllables of successive words

   consonance, consonant rhyme

   the repetition of consonants (or consonant patterns) especially at the ends of words

   double rhyme

   a two-syllable rhyme

   eye rhyme

   an imperfect rhyme on words that appear to rhyme (e.g., 'love' and `move')

   slant rhyme

   an imperfect rhyme in which only the vowel sounds or consonant sounds correspond, as in “far / part” or “last / taste

   type of:

   versification

   the form or metrical composition of a poem
2. noun

   a piece of poetry
   synonyms: verse

   types:

   clerihew

   a witty satiric verse containing two rhymed couplets and mentioning a famous person

   doggerel, doggerel verse, jingle

   a comic verse of irregular measure

   limerick

   a humorous verse form of 5 anapestic lines with a rhyme scheme aabba

   type of:

   poem, verse form

   a composition written in metrical feet forming rhythmical lines
3. verb

   be similar in sound, especially with respect to the last syllable
   “hat and cat rhyme”

   synonyms: rime

   types:

   assonate

   correspond in vowel sounds; rhyme in assonance

   type of:

   agree, check, correspond, fit, gibe, jibe, match, tally

   be compatible, similar, or consistent; coincide in their characteristics
4. verb

   compose rhymes
   synonyms: rime

   types:

   tag

   supply (blank verse or prose) with rhymes

   alliterate

   use alliteration as a form of poetry

   type of:

   create verbally

   create with or from words