Sonnet
noun /ˈsɒnɪt/ — A 14-line poem — the form that has held more human feeling than almost any other.
Definition
A poem of fourteen lines using any of a number of formal rhyme schemes, traditionally exploring love, beauty, mortality, and the complexity of feeling.
Beyond the definition
The sonnet is a container for longing — fourteen lines that Western poetry has used for centuries to hold what can't quite be held. Its constraints don't limit it; they concentrate it. The volta, the turn, is the moment the feeling changes.
Origin & history
From Italian sonetto — a small sound (from suono: sound, from Latin sonus). A little sound. A small sung thing. Perhaps the most consequential small thing in literary history.
Example sentences
Illustrative sentences for learning, not verified community posts or sourced quotations.
She wrote a sonnet for him — not because she thought he'd understand the form, but because the form understood her.
The Shakespearean sonnet ends with a couplet that turns or resolves — the last two lines where the whole thought arrives.
Poets return to the sonnet because it doesn't accommodate excess — fourteen lines demand that you know what you're saying.
How to use it
This entry uses a noun. Follow the examples for articles and singular or plural forms; not every noun takes “a” or “an.”
Choose “Sonnet” when the meaning fits your context: A poem of fourteen lines using any of a number of formal rhyme schemes, traditionally exploring love, beauty, mortality, and the complexity of feeling.
Synonyms
lyric poem, fourteen-liner
Antonyms
epic, free verse
Related words
Word in the Wild
See how this word appears in life, language and stories.
Illustrative sentences and imagined stories for learning — not verified sightings, interviews, or sourced quotations.
Fictional scene
Artist Palette Swirling Pigments
An artist’s palette shows thick, swirling, multi-colored pigments blending into new shades as the brush moves under focused, warm light.
A sonnet traditionally explores love, mortality, and the complexity of feeling. The way colors blend and shift on the palette captures this complexity, where different elements combine to form a nuanced whole, mirroring the way a sonnet weaves different lines and rhymes into a fourteen-line exploration of love, beauty, and emotional depth.
Image credit: Wordspun · AI-generated conceptual illustration
Questions about this word
What does "Sonnet" mean?
Sonnet is noun meaning: A 14-line poem — the form that has held more human feeling than almost any other.. A poem of fourteen lines using any of a number of formal rhyme schemes, traditionally exploring love, beauty, mortality, and the complexity of feeling.
Where does the word "Sonnet" come from?
From Italian sonetto — a small sound (from suono: sound, from Latin sonus). A little sound. A small sung thing. Perhaps the most consequential small thing in literary history.