Home › Glossary › Letter S

Slant rhyme

Rhyme
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

Want to hear it? Click the Listen button to hear the browser speak the word using text-to-speech!

The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

An imperfect or near-rhyme where consonants or vowels differ slightly but share enough phonetic similarity (e.g., “worm” and “swarm”) to create subtle auditory resonance.

Detailed Definition
Slant rhyme (or half-rhyme) occurs when words share similar but not identical sounds—typically consonants with differing vowels (e.g., “worm” and “swarm”) or vice versa—allowing poets like Emily Dickinson and Yeats to maintain sonic cohesion while avoiding sing-song predictability.
Example
Example in poetry:
Slant rhyme: In Emily Dickinson: "Hope is the thing with feathers / That perches in the soul"—"soul" and "all" (from later stanza) are slant rhymes (vowel/consonant near-match).
Additional Notes
Slant rhyme: Also called near or half rhyme; words with similar but not identical sounds (e.g., “worm”/“swarm”); expands rhyming possibilities and suits conversational or dissonant tones.
Also Known As
near rhyme half rhyme Consonantal rhyme Diagonal rhyme Imperfect Rhyme near-perfect rhyme off rhyme Pararhyme partial rhyme slant vowel rhyme Subtle rhyme Weak rhyme
Skip to main content