Examples of Onomatopoeia in Sentences
1] On my first morning on the farm, I was awoken suddenly by the cock-a-doodle-do of the resident rooster.
2] Ticktock, ticktock… the sound of the clock was all that could be heard in the hospital waiting room.
3] I ordered online proofreading services with the click of a mouse.
4] I knew we had finally left the city when I could hear the gentle moo of the cows in the field.
5] Quack, quack went the ducks as we threw them our stale bread.
6] Zip! My dress was fastened and I was finally ready for the wedding.
7] It was lovely to wake up to the tweet of the birds outside my bedroom window.
8] “Compliments to the chef,” roared the giant as he let out a huge belch.
9] My teeth were chattering as we waited in the freezing cold for the bus to arrive.
10] I could hear their buzzing, so I knew there was a bee’s nest around here somewhere.
11] Please do not beep your horn after dark.
12] Yuk! That cheese stinks.
13] The dog sniffed the air; he could smell meat.
14] The pig squealed.
15] I love the crunchy texture of fresh lettuce.
16] I couldn’t sleep. All I could hear was the drip, drip, drip of the faulty faucet.
17] Baa, baa whaled the sheep as the rain began to pour.
18] I snapped my fingers in time to the beat of the music.
19] I didn’t see the warning sign and bumped my head on the low doorframe.
20] The loud boom of the fireworks scared the dog.
21] The bird fluttered his wings and flew from the cage.
22] Yikes! That was a close shave.
23] I was awoken with a start with the loud bleep of my alarm clock.
24] The cat purred as I gently stroked his fur.
25] The magician waved his wand and poof, a rabbit appeared.
26] The blinds rattled as the wind grew fiercer.
27] The robbers’ car screeched around the corner as they attempted to escape the police.
28] I couldn’t wait to escape the cold and sit by a warm, crackling fire.
29] The lion let out a loud roar as the ringmaster cracked his whip.
30] The steaks sizzled on the barbeque.
31] We clapped our hands it time with the music.
32] The dog barked as the postman approached the gate.
33] The mud bubbled on the surface of the bog.
34] The girl screamed: “Eek!” as the mouse ran from under her bed.
35] The bells of the church clanged to announce the start of the service.
36] He fell off the slide and landed on the floor with a thump.
37] The ball whizzed past my ear and into the catcher’s mitt.
38] Shh! No talking in the library please.
39] The train made a choo-choo sound and smoke billowed from its chimney.
40] I heard a knock at the door.
41] He murmured the words, “I’m sorry,” but I didn’t believe he really was.
42] The machine whirred to a standstill.
43] He slashed his ex-girlfriend’s tires and felt a strong surge of guilt.
44] Tsk,tsk,tsk, you really shouldn’t be eating in class.
45] I trembled as the door slowly creaked open.
46] The owl hooted.
47] Is there a possibility that this year we will hear the pitter-patter of tiny feet?
48] The dog splashed around in the water, he was clearly having a lot of fun.
49] I listened to the rustle of the leaves in the trees and I knew autumn had arrived.
50] The old man hummed his favorite tune and the passers-by smiled.
51] Swoosh, the basketball flew smoothly through the net and the game was won.
52] Clang, clang went the bell, reminding us all that it was time for school.
53] Ding, dong, there was someone at the door.
54] Don’t forget to flush the toilet before leaving the bathroom.
55] Whoop, whoop! The gorgeous girl at the cinema gave me her phone number.
56] Ugh, that cough syrup tastes disgusting.
57] Phew! I only just made it on time.
58] I know when the teacher is approaching because I can hear the jangle of her bracelets.
59] Huh? Could you speak up please?
60] If we all help, the house will be clean faster than you can click your fingers.
61] Scrooge is famous for saying: “Bah, hum bug.”
62] I dropped the medicine into the glass and it fizzled until it dissolved.
63] Ouch! You just stepped on my toe.
64] I had second thoughts about visiting Joe when his dog started to growl at me.
65] The twang of the banjo string hurt my ears.
66] Ahem! I can hear everything you are saying about me.
67] Please whisper while you are in the library.
68] I gurgled the mouthwash as the dentist had instructed.
69] I could hear the dog whine as I closed the door and I felt terribly guilty about leaving him on his own.
70] You scared me when you shouted, “boo.”
71] He whipped out his magic wand and cast an amazing spell.
72] I wish you wouldn’t slurp your drink like that.
73] Your dog barks all night, can you try and keep him quiet please.
74] “You will never beat me at tennis,” he snorted.
75] I wish you wouldn’t mumble your words, I can’t understand what you’re saying.
76] Ow! That hurt.
77] Shuffle the cards again.
78] As she sat in the chair, kerplunk it collapsed.
79] Drink some water to help stop your hiccups.
80] The champagne tickled her nose and made her giggle.
81] There was a loud vroom as he revved the engine.
82] He tapped loudly on the windowpane.
83] Splat, the ink spilled onto the book and ruined the page.
84] She popped the balloon with a pin.
85] The snakes in the pit hissed menacingly.
86] The tinkle of the rain could be heard in the distance and we knew it was coming our way.
87] I took her shopping but she moaned throughout the day.
88] Zap! The ghosts were eradicated with the laser gun.
89] Please do not gargle with your water like that; drink it properly.
90] The water gushed down the stream to the waterfall.
91] Someone shut that dog up! I’m tired of her yapping at us all day.
92] I gobbled down my food as quickly as I could so that I could go and play football.
93] The ding-dong of the doorbell is not loud enough.
94] We heard the tlot–tlot of the horse’s hooves.
95] I squashed the snail when I stood on it by accident.
96] The wolf howled at the moon.
97] For breakfast he had a cereal that went “snap, crackle and pop” as he poured on the milk.
98] A door banged and someone sneezed “atishoo.”
99] The crowd murmured as the judge announced the verdict.
100] Meow purred the cat.
101] Boing went the bouncy ball!
Can you think of any examples of onomatopoeia in sentences? Leave a comment and share them with us all.
If you’re looking for more examples of rhetorical language, take a look at our great examples of neologisms.
What is onomatopoeia? Here’s a quick and simple definition:
Onomatopoeia is a figure of speech in which words evoke the actual sound of the thing they refer to or describe. The “boom” of a firework exploding, the “tick tock” of a clock, and the “ding dong” of a doorbell are all examples of onomatopoeia.
Some additional key details about onomatopoeia:
- Onomatopoeia can use real words, made-up words, or just letters used to represent raw sounds [as “Zzzzzz” represents someone sleeping or snoring].
- Advertising, branding, and slogans often use onomatopoeia: “Snap, crackle, pop.”
- Onomatopoeia can differ across cultures and languages, even when referring to the same sound. A dog’s “woof” in English is a dog’s “bau” in Italian [how to say woof in 16 languages].
Onomatopoeia Pronunciation
Here's how to pronounce onomatopoeia: on-uh-mat-uh-pee-uh
The Four Types of Onomatopoeia
Onomatopoeia has a few distinct variants:
- Real words that sound like real things
- Real words made to evoke the sound of real things
- Made-up words that sound like real things
- A series of letters that mimic a “raw” sound
Real Words that Sound Like Real Things
This type of onomatopoeia, which we’ll call conventional onomatopoeia, uses words whose own sound evokes the sound of real things. The word “meow,” which sounds just like the sound a cat makes when it actually meows, is a classic example of conventional onomatopoeia. This is by far the most common type of onomatopoeia.
Real Words Made to Evoke the Sound of Real Things
In this rarer type of onomatopoeia, a word or series of words is used to imitate a real-world sound, even though the words used don’t mimic that sound themselves. Perhaps the most famous example of this type of onomatopoeia is Edgar Allen Poe’s poem “The Bells,” in which Poe repeats the word “bell” 62 times to evoke the sound of a bell ringing and tolling, even though the word “bell” itself does not itself sound like a bell ringing.
Made-up Words that Sound Like Real Things
Made-up words can fill the void when no word exists to sufficiently capture the nuances of a real-world sound. For example, when James Joyce needed a word to convey the sound of someone knocking on a door, he invented “tattarrattat.” Today, almost a hundred years after he coined it in writing his novel Ulysses, “tattarrattat” has become a legit word [it’s in the Oxford English Dictionary].
A Series of Letters that Mimic a Raw Sound
Sometimes onomatopoeia involves no words at all, as in examples like “Zzzzzz” to represent the sound of sleeping or snoring, “hachoo” for a sneezing sound, or “tsk-tsk” or “tut-tut” to convey the scolding sound we make to express disapproval.
How Can You Tell if a Word Qualifies as Onomatopoeia?
There is no definitive test for whether a word qualifies as onomatopoeia. Some words, like “meow” and “buzz,” are clear examples of onomatopoeia because they’re like transcriptions of sound spelled out in letters. But other onomatopoeic words are subtler, such as the words “throbbing” and “moaning,”which appear in the Edgar Allen Poe poem “The Bells.” Does the word “moan” sound like someone moaning? Does “throb” sound like a heart beating? Kind of, but not obviously so.
The Onomatopoeia List website has collected hundreds of examples of onomatopoeic words and lets users vote on their relative onomatopoeia-ness. It can be helpful to consult their list to get a sense of whether a specific word qualifies as onomatopoeia. But you can also just make the judgment call for yourself.
Onomatopoeia Examples
Because onomatopoeia can make language so expressive, impactful, and memorable, it’s used almost everywhere you look, from literature to comics to advertising and more.
Onomatopoeia Examples in Literature
Writers use every type of onomatopoeia—and sometimes more than one type at once—to help bring characters, images, and scenes to life, as you’ll see in the examples below.
Onomatopoeia in Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Bells”
Poe’s poem is an onslaught of onomatopoeia. Here in Stanza IV of the poem he uses conventional onomatopoeia in which words like “throbbing,” “sobbing,” “moaning,” and “groaning” sound like the thing they refer to or describe. He also uses repetition of non-onomatopoeic words to create an onomatopoeic effect: repeating “time,” “bell[s],” and “knells” so many times evokes the tolling sound of a real bell.
Keeping time, time, time, In a sort of Runic rhyme,
To the throbbing of the bells–
Of the bells, bells, bells–
To the sobbing of the bells;
Keeping time, time, time,
As he knells, knells, knells, In a happy Runic rhyme,To the rolling of the bells–
Of the bells, bells, bells–
To the tolling of the bells,
Of the bells, bells, bells, bells–
Bells, bells, bells
To the moaning and the groaning of the bells.
Onomatopoeia in E. E. Cummings’ “I was sitting in mcsorley’s”
In this poem Cummings uses a mix of conventional onomatopoeia [the real words “tinking” and “slush”] and onomatopoeia with made-up words [“glush,” “ploc,” and “piddle-of-drops”] to convey the raucous sonic atmosphere of drinks being poured and people getting sloshed at one of Manhattan’s oldest bars.
the Bar.tinking luscious jigs dint of ripe silver with warm-lyish wetflat splurging smells waltz the glush of squirting taps plus slush of foam knocked off and a faint piddle-of-drops she says I ploc spittle...
Onomatopoeia in Shakespeare’s The Tempest
In Act 3, Scene 3 of The Tempest, Caliban uses onomatopoeia to convey the noises of the island. Note that “twangling” is a real word [it’s a less common form of the verb “twang”], so both examples in the lines below are conventional onomatopoeia.
Be not afeard. The isle is full of noises, Sounds, and sweet airs that give delight and hurt not.
Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments
Will hum about mine ears, and sometime voices...
Onomatopoeia in James Joyce’s Ulysses
The opening lines of the “Sirens” chapter of Ulysses contain three different types of onomatopoeic language: conventional onomatopoeia with real words that sound like the things they refer to or describe, non-onomatopoeic words used to create an onomatopoeic effect, and onomatopoeia with made-up words. In the latter type, Joyce fuses conventional onomatopoeic words [“ringing” and “peep”] with other words [“steely,” “thnthnthn,” and “ofgold”] to create entirely new words with their own unique sonic effects.
Bronze by gold heard the hoofirons, steelyringing imperthnthn thnthnthn.
Chips, picking chips off rocky thumbnail, chips. Horrid! And gold flushed more.
A husky fifenote blew.
Blew. Blue bloom is on the ...Trilling, trilling: I dolores.
Peep! Who's in the... peepofgold?
Tink cried to bronze in pity.
And a call, pure, long and throbbing. Longindying call.
Decoy. Soft word. But look! The bright stars fade. O rose! Notes chirruping answer. Castille. The morn is breaking.
Jingle jingle jaunted jingling.
Coin rang. Clock clacked.
Onomatopoeia in James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake
One of the most famous and outrageous examples of onomatopoeia in all of literature: the 101-character word Joyce made up in his novel Finnegan's Wake to represent the sound of the thunderclap that marked Adam’s fall from grace in the Garden of Eden.
The fall [bababadalgharaghtakamminarronnkonnbronntonnerronntuonnthunntro varrhounawnskawntoohoohoordenenthurnuk!] of a once wallstrait oldparr is retaled early in bed and later on life down through all christian minstrelsy.
Though it looks like pure gibberish, the word contains elements of real words from several languages, including French, Greek, and Japanese. And yes, it is possible to pronounce it [listen here]. This example comes from the first few paragraphs of Finnegans Wake, and Joyce used several more of these 100+-character “thunder words,” as they’ve come to be called, throughout the novel.
Onomatopoeia Examples in Comic Books and Superheroes
Though not so common in modern comics, comic book writers of the past often captured the power of superheroes in action with blunt onomatopoeic language, mixing real words like “Pow!” with made up neologisms like “Blap!”
Source: Classroom IdeasOnomatopoeia Examples in Brand Names and Marketing
Companies use onomatopoeia in brand names and slogans to make their marketing more memorable. Here are some examples:
- Pop Rocks [candy]
- Slurpee [7-Eleven drink]
- “Get some Zzzs” [Republic of Tea slogan for herbal tea]
- “Plop plop fizz fizz, oh what a relief it is” [Alka Seltzer slogan for indigestion relief]
- “Crunch all you want, we’ll make more” [Doritos chips slogan from Jay Leno days]
- “Snap, crackle, pop” [Rice Krispies cereal]
Why Do Writers Use Onomatopoeia?
Everyday plain language can be pretty dull. Consider this example:
- “The car drove fast down the street and turned quickly at the corner.”
There’s nothing wrong with this sentence and it conveys meaning in a clear way. But, now consider this revision of the same sentence:
- “We heard the vroom of the car’s engine as it whizzed by and screeched around the corner.”
The three examples of onomatopoeia highlighted in blue here make this version of the sentence a lot more vivid and descriptive, right? And that’s exactly why writers use onomatopoeia:
- To enhance the expressiveness of written language to evoke the sounds and feeling of real life.
- To describe things with sound that are difficult to convey in any other way.
With onomatopoeia, a gun doesn’t just go off, it goes “bang!” Thunder doesn’t just make a sound, it makes a “clap,” “crack,” or a “boom.” Birds don’t just sing, they “tweet” and “chirp.” Onomatopoeic words like these help bring written language to life.
Other Helpful Onomatopoeia Resources
- The Onomatopoeia list: A database of ranked onomatopoeic words, with a rating of 1-10 for each word [10 being more onomatopoeia-y].
- The Wikipedia Page on Onomatopoeia: A somewhat technical explanation, including helpful examples from literature, media, and pop culture.
- The Dictionary Definition of Onomatopoeia: A basic definition, also with a bit on the etymology of onomatopoeia [spoiler: it’s derived from the Greek for “the making of a name or word”].
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Onomatopoeia on YouTube
- An original pop song written to explain onomatopoeia, including lots of examples.
- A video lesson that explains onomatopoeia in under two minutes.