Home › Glossary › Letter D

ductile

Adjective
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

Capable of being drawn, bent, or shaped without snapping; metaphorically describes flexible minds or malleable materials in verse.

Detailed Definition
Ductile describes a material that can be drawn out, bent, or stretched while remaining intact. Here it gives the anchor a flexible, almost living quality, matching the poem’s image of connection being formed.
Example
Example in poetry:
“Till the ductile anchor hold” uses ductile for metal capable of being drawn or shaped without breaking; “Ductile copper bends beneath the hammer’s song” makes the physical meaning clear; in a metaphorical line, “Her ductile voice took every accent of the rain,” the word suggests adaptability; science-inflected contemporary poetry often uses ductile metals to join industry and emotion
Additional Notes
"Ductile" is a technical descriptive word, and in the poem it appears in a way that many modern readers may not immediately know.; Found in the poem, A Noiseless Patient Spider by Walt Whitman
Also Known As
flexible pliable malleable
Skip to main content