What is a Palindrome?

language humanities

A palindrome is a word or sentence that is the same spelled forward or backward. For example, take a look at the following sentence: "Madam, I'm Adam". If you omit the punctuation, you can see that the letters spell the same thing forward and backward. There are lots of words that are palindromes including: dad, deified, kayak, mom, repaper, reviver, rotator, and radar.

Palindromic sentences are difficult to uncover but here are some great examples:

  • A man, a plan, a canal: Panama!
  • A man, a pain, a mania: Panama!
  • Are poets a waste? Opera!
  • Never odd or even.
  • I prefer pi.
  • Oh, cameras are macho.
  • Drab as a fool, aloof as a bard.
  • Go deliver a dare, vile dog.
  • Wet sanitary rat in a stew.
  • Lepers repel.
  • Too hot to hoot.
  • I'm a fool; aloof am I.
  • Don't nod.
  • No, it is opposition.
  • I'm alas, a salami.
  • Madam, I'm Adam.
  • So many dynamos!
  • Evil, a sin, is alive.
  • Do geese see God?
  • Boston, O do not sob.
  • Niagara, O roar again!

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New: Discuss this Article

Posted by: habura
I had a teacher who said she loved to collect palindromes because her first name was a palindrome: Aviva. Here are some more palindromes: racecar, eye, deed, "I did, did I?, and my favorite "Dennis sinned" -- my brother is named Dennis. ;)

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