Palindrome Definition: What It Is and How To Use It

Do you know what a palindrome is? This article will provide you with all of the information you need on palindrome, including its definition, usage, example sentences, and more!

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What is a palindrome?

According to Your Dictionary, a palindrome is a word, phrase, number, or sequence of words that reads the same backward as forward. If you put the letters in reverse order, it will read the same. According to Dictionary of the English Language, this word comes from the Greek palindromos meaning “running back again”, from the word palin meaning “back, again” and the Greek dramein or dromos meaning “to run.” This is akin to the Greek polos meaning axis or pole. Palindrome is three syllables – pal-in-drome. Semordnilaps are palindromes that spell a different word backward, like part and trap. In medicine, a palindrome is used to refer to a segment of double-stranded DNA in which the sequence of nucleotides/nucleotide sequence of one strand reads the same in reverse order to that of the complementary strand.

What are examples of palindromes?

Palindromes can be used in many different contexts in the English language. Trying to use a word or literary technique in a sentence is one of the best ways to memorize what it is, but you can also try making flashcards or quizzes that test your knowledge. Try using this term of the day in a sentence today! Below are a couple of examples of palindrome that can help get you started incorporating this tool into your everyday use.  Take a look at these palindrome examples from Czech the World and see how many you know! 

  •  “T. Eliot, top bard, notes putrid tang emanating, is sad; I’d assign it a name: gnat dirt upset on drab pot-toilet.” – Alastair Reid
  •  Kayak salad, Alaska yak.
  •  Evil, I did dwell, lewd did I live.
  •  Ateleta, Italy (L’Aquila)
  •  Mike Kim – US-Korean author
  •  God save Eva’s dog.
  •  Saw tide rose? So red it was.
  •  Aworowa, Ghana
  •  Are we not drawn onward, we few, drawn onward to new era?
  •  Evade me, Dave.
  •  Semmes, Alabama, United States
  •  Deked
  •  Cigar? Toss it in a can. It is so tragic.
  •  Name no side in Eden, I’m mad! A maid I am, Adam mine; denied is one man.
  •  Ikazaki, Ehime, Japan
  •  Do good? I? No. Evil anon I deliver. I maim nine more hero-men in Saginaw, sanitary sword a-tuck, Carol, I. Lo! Rack, cut a drowsy rat in Aswan. I gas nine more hero-men in Miami. Reviled, I (Nona) live on. I do, O God.
  •  Sara Baras – flamenco dancer
  •  Mr. Owl ate my metal worm.
  •  Madam
  •  No trace; not one carton.
  •  Murdrum
  •  Pop
  •  Killik, Antalya, Turkey
  •  Ed, I saw Harpo Marx ram Oprah W. aside.
  •  No, it can, as it is, it is a war. Raw as it is, it is an action.
  •  Anuta Catuna – Romanian athlete
  •  Hammah, Lower Saxony, Germany
  •  Go hang a salami, I’m a lasagna hog.
  •  Dammit, I’m mad!
  •  Golf? No sir, prefer prison flog.
  •  Stanley Yelnats – the protagonist in the novel Holes by Louis Sachar
  •  But sad Eva saved a stub.
  •  Eva can ignite virtuosos out riveting in a cave.
  •  Drawer as a reward.
  •  Madam, in Eden, I’m Adam.
  •  A new order began, a more Roman age bred Rowena.
  •  Hallah, Yemen
  •  Sir, I demand, I am a maid named Iris.
  •  Bird rib.
  •  A dog! A panic in a pagoda.
  •  Leon Noel – France’s ambassador to Poland
  •  Dennis sinned.
  •  Oozy rat in a sanitary zoo.
  •  Neuquén, Argentina
  •  Oktahatko, Florida, United States
  •  Testset
  •  Now I see bees, I won.
  •  A Toyota. Race fast, safe car. A Toyota.
  •  So many dynamos.
  •  We panic in a pew.
  •  Sarras, Ardèche, France
  •  Aka Aka, New Zealand
  •  Gert, I saw Ron avoid a radio-van, or was it Reg?
  •  God! A red nugget! A fat egg under a dog!
  •  Do nine men interpret? “Nine men,” I nod.
  •  Non
  •  Let O’Hara gain an inn in a Niagara hotel.
  •  Civic
  •  Redivider
  •  Won’t lovers revolt now?
  •  Rotator
  •  Rise to vote, sir.
  •  No “x” in “Nixon”.
  •  Tattarrattat – Poet James Joyce in Ulysses
  •  Yreka Bakery, Yreka, California, United States
  •  Dog, as a devil deified, lived as a god.
  •  Itamati, Odisha, India
  •  Racecar
  •  No, I met System Ion.
  •  Kinikinik, Alberta, Canada
  •  Wassamassaw, South Carolina, United States
  •  Campus Motto: Bottoms up, Mac!
  •  Evar, go to grave.
  •  No pet so tragic as a cigar to step on.
  •  Oozy rat in a sanitary zoo.
  •  Barge in! Relate mere war of 1991 for a were-metal Ernie grab!
  •  Planalp, Switzerland
  •  Stella won no wallets.
  •  Drab as a fool, aloof as a bard.
  •  No, it never propagates if I set a gap or prevention.
  •  Did I draw Della too tall, Edward? I did?
  •  On a clover, if alive, erupts a vast pure evil; a fire volcano.
  •  Alavala, Andhra Pradesh, India
  •  Emil saw a slime.
  •  Mark Kram – sportswriter
  •  Yay
  •  Redder
  •  Mussum, Bocholt, Germany
  •  Nisio Isin – Japanese novelist
  •  Yessey, Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia
  •  Peep
  •  Abiriba, Nigeria
  •  Deed
  •  Noon
  •  Dennis, Nell, Edna, Leon, Nedra, Anita, Rolf, Nora, Alice, Carol, Leo, Jane, Reed, Dena, Dale, Basil, Rae, Penny, Lana, Dave, Denny, Lena, Ida, Bernadette, Ben, Ray, Lila, Nina, Jo, Ira, Mara, Sara, Mario, Jan, Ina, Lily, Arne, Bette, Dan, Reba, Diane, Lynn, Ed, Eva, Dana, Lynne, Pearl, Isabel, Ada, Ned, Dee, Rena, Joel, Lora, Cecil, Aaron, Flora, Tina, Arden, Noel, and Ellen sinned.
  •  No sir — away! A papaya war is on.
  •  Animal loots foliated detail of stool lamina.
  •  Too bad I hid a boot
  •  Draw, o coward!
  •  Some men interpret nine memos.
  •  Madam, I’m Adam
  •  Senones, Vosges, France

Overall, palindrome is a word or sentence that reads the same forwards and backwards regardless of punctuation. This word comes from the Ancient Greek πάλιν and shows us a funny side of English. See if you can find a palindromic name today!

Sources:

  1. ▷ 175 Best Palindromes in English – The Ultimate Collection | Czech the World 
  2. Palindrome Examples: Fun Forward and Backward Words | Your Dictionary 
  3. Palindrome Definition & Meaning | Dictionary