These people would argue that cacophony includes any grouping of words that sound unpleasant together or are difficult to pronounce-simply by virtue of containing dissimilar sounds. It's worth noting that some people take a much broader view of what constitutes cacophony. In fact, in most cases, cacophony is created using the help of other, non-explosive consonant sounds, since it makes the jumble of noises all the more discordant-and with cacophony, discord is the name of the game. But that doesn't mean that every consonant has to be explosive-and it also doesn't mean that the explosive sounds have to occur right next to each other. So a word, phrase, sentence, paragraph, or poem is typically considered cacophonous when it contains explosive consonants in relatively close succession. As you can hear, the word cacophony itself has two explosive consonant sounds that repeat in close succession ( kuh- koff-uh-nee), making it a cacophonous word. You can think of explosive consonants as all the letters you would want to use if you were going to try to write out the sounds a frying pan would make if you threw it down a stairwell: ting, ping, klang, dong, bang, crash. Other consonants that can have explosive sounds are C, CH, Q, and X.Įxplosive consonants are really the key ingredient when creating cacophony. The consonants B, D, K, P, T, and G (as in Gorilla, not George) are all explosive. An explosive consonant is a consonant that "pops" or has a "release"-like a tiny explosion-when you say it.To really understand what cacophony is, it's helpful to start by getting a sense of what an "explosive consonant" is: Here's how to pronounce cacophony: Kuh- koff-uh-nee Cacophony in Depth The opposite of cacophony is euphony, or the mixture of words that sound smooth or pleasant together.Cacophony is one of the words that is used most often to speak about the musicality of language-how it sounds when it's spoken aloud.The word cacophony is itself slightly cacophonous because of the repetition of the "k" sound.The word cacophony comes from the Greek word meaning "bad sound.".Some additional key details about cacophony: For instance, the protagonist of the children's book Tikki Tikki Tembo has a very long, very cacophonous name: Tikki Tikki Tembo No Sarimbo Hari Kari Bushkie Perry Pem Do Hai Kai Pom Pom Nikki No Meeno Dom Barako. Send us feedback about these examples.What is cacophony? Here’s a quick and simple definition:Ī cacophony is a combination of words that sound harsh or unpleasant together, usually because they pack a lot of percussive or "explosive" consonants (like T, P, or K) into relatively little space. These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'peccadillo.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. 2022 Consumption is the peccadillo flossing is the pardon. 2023 Sadly, performance and build quality didn’t live up to the promise, and fewer than 9,000 units were made by the time the entire operation was shuttered following John DeLorean’s white-powder peccadillo. 2023 He’s simply been willing to overlook a peccadillo or two if the guy’s good enough. 2023 The creep then uses these peccadilloes to blackmail ostensibly good folks into all sorts of weird behavior - like convincing a guilty-conscience police officer to undermine the investigation, and when the cops get close, even to commit murder on his behalf. phone calls and demands - escalate? - Daniel Fienberg, The Hollywood Reporter, 23 Feb. 2023 What if the new boss’ weird peccadilloes - Patoff abolishes work-from-home, abruptly fires a staffer whose smell displeases him and thinks nothing of making 3 a.m. Presidents from Eisenhower to Trump caught the flak. Todd Gilchrist, Variety, But as the capital merry-go-round spun its peccadilloes, scandals and ballyhooed promises, his jaunty baritone restored order with bipartisan japes and irreverent songs to deflate the preening ego and the Big Idea. McCarthy, National Review, His audiences know that family peccadilloes are a cornerstone of that material, which nestles this fictional exploration of similar subject matter firmly in his comfort zone. Recent Examples on the Web Yet the Biden Justice Department remains indifferent, as if the issue were merely the personal peccadillos of the president’s ne’er-do-well son, Hunter.
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