[uh-lit-uh-rey-shuh
n] 
| 1. | the commencement of two or more stressed syllables of a word group either with the same consonant sound or sound group (consonantal alliteration), as in from stem to stern, or with a vowel sound that may differ from syllable to syllable (vocalic alliteration), as in each to all. Compare consonance (def. 4a). |
| 2. | the commencement of two or more words of a word group with the same letter, as in apt alliteration's artful aid. |
| al·lit·er·a·tion (ə-lĭt'ə-rā'shən) n. The repetition of the same sounds or of the same kinds of sounds at the beginning of words or in stressed syllables, as in "on scrolls of silver snowy sentences" (Hart Crane). Modern alliteration is predominantly consonantal; certain literary traditions, such as Old English verse, also alliterate using vowel sounds. [From ad- + Latin littera, letter.] |
The repetition of the beginning sounds of words, as in “Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers,” “long-lived,” “short shrift,” and “the fickle finger of fate.”