ASSONANCE [Stress: ‘ASS-o-nanss’]. In RHETORIC and poetics, a resemblance or correspondence of sound between syllables or words, such as the repeated vowel in easy to please and the repeated consonant pattern b–t–d in bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. Traditionally, the term has been reserved for vowel REPETITION alone and consonance has been reserved for consonants, but this distinction is now rare. Assonance has been described as both a kind of rhyme and an alternative to rhyme. The terms ALLITERATION, assonance, and RHYME identify kinds of recurring sound that in practice are often freely mixed together. In considering a poem, it may not be easy or useful to decide where one stops and another starts.

as·so·nance / ˈasənəns/ • n. in poetry, the repetition of the sound of a vowel or diphthong in nonrhyming stressed syllables near enough to each other for the echo to be discernible (e.g., penitence, reticence).Compare with alliteration.DERIVATIVES: as·so·nant adj.as·so·nate / -ˌnāt/ v.

assonance XVIII. — F., f. L. assonāre (of Echo) answer to, f. AS- + sonāre SOUND3.