Pitter-patter

//ˈpɪt.əˈpæt.ə// noun, verb

noun, verb ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A soft, percussive sound, as of tiny feet, or of rain on a rooftop; patter. uncountable

    "Once or twice I heard a faint pitter-patter like the feet of the dog going hither and thither on the sand far below me, and there were more bird-like sounds, but that was all."

  2. 2
    a series of rapid tapping sounds wordnet
Verb
  1. 1
    To patter; to scurry. intransitive

    "The rain was coming down heavier now, the drops pitter-pattering on the roof of the truck."

  2. 2
    make light, rapid and repeated sounds wordnet
  3. 3
    rain gently wordnet
Adverb
  1. 1
    describing a rhythmic beating wordnet
  2. 2
    as of footsteps wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
alliterationassonancebarragebeatbeatingbicker

Example

More examples

"With a pitter-patter of footsteps she runs off to the entrance."

Etymology

Reduplication of patter.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.