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baleful

Adjective
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

Baleful describes something menacing, harmful, or full of evil intent; it often characterizes a threatening look, influence, omen, or atmosphere.

Detailed Definition
The word baleful describes something that is harmful or threatening, often evoking a sense of dread or foreboding. In the poem, it is used to describe a 'dower' that has been shed upon the woman's soul, suggesting that her gift of seeing the spirits brings her sorrow and isolation rather than joy. This adds to the poem's themes of haunting and loss.
Example
Example in poetry:
“That spell of power / Dark and dread ... a baleful dower” uses baleful for harmful, ominous, or deadly; Coleridge’s Gothic atmosphere often surrounds characters with threatening supernatural force; Poe’s raven and shadowed chambers exemplify baleful mood and imagery; contemporary horror or climate poetry may describe smoke, heat, or inheritance as a baleful gift
Additional Notes
The word 'baleful' is less commonly used in modern English, making it likely to be unfamiliar to many readers, especially in the context of describing a 'dower'.; Found in the poem, The Haunted House by Felicia Dorothea Hemans
Also Known As
Ominous Sinister Malevolent
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