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Alibi

Law And Justice
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

Evidence that a person was elsewhere when a crime occurred. It may symbolize an excuse, absence, or attempt to escape responsibility.

Detailed Definition
An alibi is a claim, supported by evidence or witnesses, that a suspect could not have committed an act because they were in another place. In poetry, it can become a figure for emotional distance, divided identity, or the stories people tell to survive accusation. An alibi may be literal in a crime poem, but it can also expose evasions in love, politics, and family history.
Example
Example in poetry:
A mystery poem may give its speaker an alibi: she was miles away when the town’s bell fell silent; “My alibi is the moon,” says a lyric speaker, using the term playfully to claim that moonlight witnessed her solitude; In a poem about betrayal, an alibi can symbolize an excuse that fails to hide emotional guilt; A dramatic monologue may reveal that the accused person’s alibi is a bus ticket, a clock, and a stranger’s memory
Additional Notes
An alibi is evidence that a person could not have committed a crime because they were elsewhere at the relevant time. Poetically, it may mean more than literal absence: an emotional alibi can be an excuse, a denial of complicity, or an attempt to avoid guilt. Its tension lies in whether the alibi is convincing, truthful, or incomplete.
Also Known As
Alibi Defense Plea of Alibi
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