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GCSE

Descriptive Language

Question

What is an Onomatopoeia?

2 years ago

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214 Replies

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10250 views

D

Dolores Haley


214 Answers

Carla Profile Picture
Carla Verified Sherpa Tutor ✓

Inspiring English Teacher with over 10 years of teaching and tutoring

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Onomatopoeia is a word which sounds like the thing it is describing.

E.g The leaves crunched under my footsteps.

E.g Fireworks bang very loudly.



Here are some simple but effective examples:


Snap – tree branches snapping

Whoosh – wind blowing

Whisper – of the wind

Splash - of the sea/waves

Chatter - of the people




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Aimee G Profile Picture
Aimee G Verified Sherpa Tutor ✓

Qualified Teacher with over ten years of extensive experience.

An Onomatopoeia is a word that mimics the sound or noise it refers to e.g. boom, pop, achoo, wham etc.


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A
Angela Stevens

A formation of a word sound which is associated with that word, such as clap, cuckoo, hiss.

Michelle O Profile Picture
Michelle O Verified Sherpa Tutor ✓

English Tutor with experience of all age groups.

Onomatopoeia is when the words sounds like it is. For example buzz, fizz, pop

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Emma

A word that imitates a sound.

Simon R Profile Picture
Simon R Verified Sherpa Tutor ✓

Qualified secondary school English teacher. Experienced examiner.

16 reviews

Onomatopoeia is a word that imitates the sound it is describing: boom, pop, hiss, for example. As an examiner I see pupils using onomatopoeia a lot in their creative writing essays. I would advise you not to overuse this technique and never use it just to "tick a box". Many pupils believe that if they use every literary method - metaphor, repetition, alliteration, personification etc. - they will gain higher marks. They seldom do as using so many methods just looks clumsy, overused and often irrelevant. Oh, and if you have to use onomatopoeia don't write it in capital letters with lots of exclamation marks after it: only Year 7s should do this.

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Helena Weblin

A word used to show a noise for example: crash or bang

A
Alessandro Do Nascimento
  1. the formation of a word from a sound associated with what is named (e.g. cuckoosizzle ).
  2. "a relatively large number of bird names arise by onomatopoeia"
  • the use of onomatopoeia for literary effect.
  • "the language in her picture books is notable for its playfulness and onomatopoeia"


N
Nadine Pegley

Onomatopoeia is when the word sounds like it's description. For example "snap, crackle and pop!"

Lily B Profile Picture
Lily B Verified Sherpa Tutor ✓

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A word that sounds like what it represents - crash

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Rachel Fearon

Hi there, the dictionary definition of Onomatopoeia is: "The formation of a word from a sound associated with what is named". To better understand this, think of old-fashioned comic books; when, for example, Batman would fight, you would see Onomatopoeia words like "KAPOW!" to represent the audible impact of a blow. 

Hannah F Profile Picture
Hannah F Verified Sherpa Tutor ✓

Passionate Primary school teacher and English specialist to GCSE.

Onomatopoeia is when a word makes the sound it describes, for example:

bang, crash, splash, bark, woof.

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Richard Dodd

A word which sounds like the noise itself, e.g bang, cuckoo

Kirsty H Profile Picture
Kirsty H Verified Sherpa Tutor ✓

English Language and Literature KS3, GCSE and A Level

Hi Dolores, onomatopoeia are words that produce sounds. For example, 'boom', 'bang', 'crash'. Onomatopoeia is excellent for creating sound imagery so that your reader can easily imagine the sounds in a description or narrative.

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Rhianna Igglesden

Hi there Dolores, the word Onomatopoeia sounds complicated but the definition is simple.


It is often used for literary effect and they usually phonetically imitate the word they say. For example, screech is pronounced the exact same way as it is read aloud. An example of this used in a sentence is: The pigs oink as they rolled in the mud. Here it would be ‘oink’ that would make this sentence use Onomatopoeia.


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