Meaning of Onomatopoeia | Babel Free

Definitions

1. The property of a word that sounds like what it represents.
   uncountable
2. Dated spelling of onomatopoeia.
   countable, uncountable
3. A word that sounds like what it represents, such as "gurgle", "stutter", or "hiss".
   countable
4. A word that appropriates a sound for another sensation or a perceived nature, such as "thud", "beep", or "meow"; an ideophone, phenomime.
   countable
5. The use of language whose sound imitates that which it names.
   rhetoric, uncountable

Equivalents

Examples

“A woorde making called of the Grecians Onomatapoia, is when wee make wordes of our owne minde, such as bee derived from the nature of things.”

“Poets in particular make use of onomatopœia—discordant or melodious sounds, heavy accented syllables or light unaccented syllables—to suit the ideas to be expressed.”

CEFR level