onomatopoeia
Americannoun
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the formation of a word, as cuckoo, meow, honk, or boom, by imitation of a sound made by or associated with its referent.
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a word so formed.
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the use of imitative and naturally suggestive words for rhetorical, dramatic, or poetic effect.
noun
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the formation of words whose sound is imitative of the sound of the noise or action designated, such as hiss, buzz, and bang
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the use of such words for poetic or rhetorical effect
Usage
What is onomatopoeia? An onomatopoeia is the forming of a word by imitating the sound the word is referring to, as in bang, meaning “a loud, explosive sound,” and meow, meaning “the sound a cat makes.”The words themselves are also known as onomatopoeias. Many commonly used words are onomatopoeias. Onomatopoeias are used to give a sense of action or intensity to writing or drawings.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of onomatopoeia
First recorded in 1570–80; from Late Latin, from Greek onomatopoiía “making of words,” from onomato- (stem of ónoma “name”) + poi- (stem of poieîn “to make”) + -ia -ia; cf. -onym, poet
Explanation
Boom! Bang! Crash! When a word is formed from the sound that an associated thing makes, call it an example of onomatopoeia. In Greek, onomatopoeia (on-uh-mah-tuh-PEE-ah) simply means "word-making," but in English it refers to a very specific process of word-making: an attempt to capture the sound of something. Examples of onomatopoeia in English include burble, buzz, slosh, ratatat, and thud. Words created by onomatopoeia can seem totally natural, but they can be surprisingly different from language to language: in Japanese, dogs say wan wan, but in Greek they say gav gav.
Vocabulary lists containing onomatopoeia
Some Helpful Poetry Terms
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Poetry: Literary Devices
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TEKS ELAR Academic Vocabulary List (5th-7th grades)
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
But after the Onomatopoeia let us examine other Tropes.
From Complete Works of Plutarch — Volume 3: Essays and Miscellanies by Plutarch
Onomatopoeia, formations of words resembling in sound that of the things denoted by them.
From The Nuttall Encyclopædia Being a Concise and Comprehensive Dictionary of General Knowledge by Nuttall, P. Austin
If the sound of the words actually imitates the sound of the thing indicated, the effect is called Onomatopoeia.
From A History of English Literature by Fletcher, Robert Huntington
No poet since Milton has employed what is known as Onomatopoeia with so much effect.
From The Early Poems of Alfred Lord Tennyson by Collins, John Churton
This is one of the instances in which he is lured from the plain path by the Nixy Onomatopoeia.
From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 06, No. 34, August, 1860 by Various
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
