Words or parts of words that have the same or similar vowel sounds, creating a musical effect in poetry or writing.
From Latin 'assonare' (ad- 'to' + sonare 'to sound'). The literary device emerged as poets noticed vowel sound repetition separate from rhyming consonants.
Assonance is why 'the cat sat back' sounds poetic even without rhyming—repeating that 'a' sound triggers the same pleasure centers in your brain that full rhymes do, which is why poets used it to make free verse feel musical!
Complete word intelligence in one call. Free tier — 50 lookups/day.