Home › Glossary › Letter A

Aporia

Device
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

Want to hear it? Click the Listen button to hear the browser speak the word using text-to-speech!

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

A rhetorical expression of doubt or perplexity—often feigned—to explore complex ideas or engage the reader in deliberation.

Detailed Definition
Aporia is a rhetorical expression of genuine or feigned doubt, often used in poetry to explore philosophical dilemmas, emotional conflicts, or existential questions; it invites the reader into a space of inquiry rather than assertion.
Example
Example in poetry:
Aporia in Shakespeare’s “To be or not to be” soliloquy; aporia in John Keats’s “Ode on a Grecian Urn” (“What leaf-fring’d legend...?”); aporia in Paul Celan’s unresolved questions; aporia expresses doubt or philosophical uncertainty through rhetorical questioning
Additional Notes
Rhetorical expression of doubt or uncertainty, often as a questioning device. Greek origin meaning "impasse." Related to rhetorical question but emphasizes genuine puzzlement. Common in philosophical and metaphysical poetry.
Other Meanings of “Aporia”
Also Known As
Rhetorical perplexity Expressed doubt Logical impasse Reasoned confusion Paradox feigned doubt
Skip to main content