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beguiled

Verb
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

Deceived or misled, often through charm, cleverness, or enchantment; it can also suggest being pleasantly distracted from grief or care.

Detailed Definition
Beguiled is a literary verb that can mean either to deceive or to enchant. In Blake’s line it suggests that the angel’s presence kept sorrow from fully taking hold, which fits the poem’s dreamlike, old-fashioned diction.
Example
Example in poetry:
“Witless woe was ne’er beguiled,” where beguiled means charmed, diverted, or deceived away from grief; in Keats, enchantment can briefly beguile painful consciousness; “music beguiled the long night’s fear” uses the gentler sense of soothing diversion; “the promise beguiled him from the truth” shows its more suspicious sense of deception
Additional Notes
The word beguiled is a somewhat archaic literary verb, and the quoted line uses it in a way modern readers may need to look up.; Found in the poem, The Angel by William Blake
Also Known As
charmed enchanted captivated entranced
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