sibilancy

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsɪbɪlənsi/

Noun

sibilancy (usually uncountable, plural sibilancies)

1. The property or state of being sibilant.

   Synonym: sibilance

   • 1876, James Russell Lowell, “Milton”, in Among My Books. Second Series., Boston, Mass.: James R[ipley] Osgood and Company, late Ticknor & Fields, and Fields, Osgood, & Co., →OCLC, page 280:

     How do such words differ from hilltop, townend, candlelight, rushlight, cityman, and the like, where no double s can be made the scapegoat? Certainly Milton would not have avoided them for their sibilancy, he who wrote […] verses that hiss like Medusa's head in wrath.

Anagrams

• bacilysin