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Literature Glossary

Don’t be an oxymoron. Know your literary terms.

Over 200 literary terms, Shmooped to perfection.

Sibilance

Definition:

If you can speak Parseltongue, you're skilled at sibilance. You're also probably a wizard.

Sibilance is a special type of alliteration that employs only the soft consonant sounds: We're talking about s, sh, ch, th, z, x, f, and the soft c (like in cent, not like in cat). Remember that tongue-twister "She sells seashells by the seashore?" That's sibilance in action.