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Glite Dictionary
perfect rhyme

perfect rhyme

1 4.8
The vowel sound and the sound after it at the ends of lines match exactly
  • noun
  • /ˈpɜrfɪkt raɪm/
  • Literature
translation icon : rima perfecta
  • In poetry, achieving a perfect rhyme can greatly enhance the musical quality of the verse.

Examples

  • Your words, they're always just in time, just like a perfect rhyme, like you're not even trying.

  • A perfect rhyme occurs when two words share the same ending sounds, like 'cat' and 'hat.'

  • When writing lyrics, many songwriters strive for a perfect rhyme to create a memorable chorus.

How Exact

perfect rhyme
  • Literature
1 4.8
to rhyme
53 1.3
eye rhyme
  • Literature
8.9

Surface Forms

perfect rhyme singular
perfect rhymes plural

Morphology

perfect + rhyme

The meaning 'an exact match of end sounds' is directly derivable from combining 'perfect' (exact, complete) with 'rhyme' (correspondence of sounds). This is a literal, compositional phrase that follows standard English adjective+noun semantics and would be understandable to a B1 learner who knows both constituents.

Etymology

Perfect rhyme shows a simple, clear idea: perfect means exact and rhyme means two words whose end sounds are the same, like 'cat' and 'hat'. So perfect rhyme is used when the end sounds match exactly, which is why it means an 'exact match' in sound.