Alliterating

Part of speech: verb, adjective

Definitions

1. Producing a series of words in which the initial consonant sounds are repeated for stylistic or poetic effect; exhibiting the technique of starting neighboring words with the same sound to create rhythm or emphasis; employing a pattern where successive words begin with matching consonant sounds to enhance cohesion and melody
2. Forming phrases or sentences that begin with identical consonant sounds to induce musicality; using the repetition of initial sounds in connected words to achieve poetic or rhetorical attractiveness; creating sequences where the same beginning consonant is echoed across multiple words for stylistic impact
3. Characterized by the repetition of initial consonant sounds in close proximity to create rhythm; applying a literary device that repeats the starting consonant sound in a series of words for effect; demonstrating the use of initial sound reiteration for artistic emphasis and sound harmony

Etymology: Latin "littera" meant "letter," the written symbol, and it is the source of English "literal" and "literature." Medieval Latin combined "ad-" ("to") with "littera" to form "alliterare," to begin with the same letter. English took that root and built "alliteration" from it. "Alliterating" is a back-formation: English speakers took the noun "alliteration" and worked backward to create a verb, then an adjective, from the same stem. So a writer who alliterates is linking words through their opening sounds, and the same form describes the resulting line of verse or prose.

Synonyms: repeating, echoing