Assonantal

as·so·nance  (s-nns)

n.

1. Resemblance of sound, especially of the vowel sounds in words, as in: "that dolphin-torn, that gong-tormented sea" William Butler Yeats.

2. The repetition of identical or similar vowel sounds, especially in stressed syllables, with changes in the intervening consonants, as in the phrase tilting at windmills.

3. Rough similarity; approximate agreement.

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[French, from Latin assonre, to respond to : ad-, ad- + sonre, to sound; see swen- in Indo-European roots.]

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asso·nant adj. & n.

asso·nantal (-nntl) adj.