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deplore

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

To feel, express, or hold deep grief or strong regret; used in elegies and reflective poetry to mourn loss or condemn tragic choices.

Detailed Definition
In older or more literary English, deplore often means to lament or grieve over a fault, sin, or misfortune. Donne uses it in a penitential context, where the speaker is not just sorry but spiritually troubled by his actions.
Example
Example in poetry:
“And do run still, though still I do deplore?” combines movement with lament; Deplore can mean to grieve openly, especially in elevated or older diction; “Though I deplore, the seasons turn” makes sorrow coexist with time’s progress; In a contemporary elegy, “we deplore the names erased” gives communal mourning a public voice
Additional Notes
The verb appears in a formal, religious sense in the line quoted, and many readers may not immediately know this older literary usage.; Found in the poem, A Hymn to God the Father by John Donne
Other Meanings of “deplore”
Also Known As
lament mourn regret
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