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# onomatopoeia

noun (onomatopoeia, uncountable; also an onomatopoeia — an example)

«onomatopoeia» in the English dictionary: everyday — its meanings, how the lessons use it, and examples, each with its tree on Mova.

## Everyday

1. Onomatopoeia is when a word sounds like the noise it describes, such as buzz, bang, sizzle, hiss, splash, cuckoo and woof. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/onomatopoeia/#m1)
2. An onomatopoeia (or an onomatopoeic word) is one such word. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/onomatopoeia/#m2)

### In the lessons

In English and poetry lessons pupils find and use onomatopoeia to make writing lively and noisy: «The bacon sizzled in the pan.» Comics use it in big letters: POW! CRASH! BOOM! Animal sounds are different in different languages: an English dog says «woof», a French dog says «ouaf», a Ukrainian dog says «hav». Phrases: use onomatopoeia, an onomatopoeic word, sound words.

### Examples

- «Buzz» is an example of onomatopoeia. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/onomatopoeia/#x1)
- The poem is full of onomatopoeia: crash, splash, whoosh. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/onomatopoeia/#x2)
- Add some onomatopoeia to make your storm sound real. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/onomatopoeia/#x3)
- The comic showed «KAPOW!» when the hero punched. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/onomatopoeia/#x4)
- «The snake went hiss» uses onomatopoeia. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/onomatopoeia/#x5)
- Can you spell onomatopoeia without looking? [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/onomatopoeia/#x6)
- «Tick-tock» copies the sound of a clock. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/onomatopoeia/#x7)
- In Japanese, a cat's meow is «nyan». [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/onomatopoeia/#x8)

### Note

Uncountable when talking about the technique: «The poem uses onomatopoeia.» Adjective: «onomatopoeic». Pronounced «on-uh-mat-uh-PEE-uh». Spelling is hard: o-n-o-m-a-t-o-p-o-e-i-a. Do not confuse with alliteration (same first sounds: big bad bear). Many onomatopoeic words can be verbs or nouns: «the bees buzz», «a loud buzz».

## On Mova

- [Trees and pragmatics of «onomatopoeia» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/onomatopoeia/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«onomatopoeia» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/onomatopoeia.html) on Mova free.