Home › Glossary › Letter G

Gully

Geology
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 narrow channel cut into soil or rock by running water. It can suggest sudden loss, fragile ground, and persistent erosion.

Detailed Definition
A gully is a small, steep-sided channel formed when concentrated water runs across exposed ground and cuts into soil, sediment, or soft rock. Gullies can appear quickly after heavy rain, especially where vegetation has been removed. For a poet, the gully offers an image of a wound made by repetition: each storm deepens what was once slight. It may also suggest the path grief makes in a life, a narrow course that gathers force because the ground has already been broken.
Example
Example in poetry:
Rain carved a gully through the field, giving the speaker a path shaped by loss; The child’s boots filled the gully with echoes as she climbed toward home; A poet may use a dry gully as an image of absence, where water once moved but no longer does; The gully widened after the storm, mirroring an argument that had become impossible to cross
Additional Notes
A gully is larger than a rill but smaller than a valley, usually carved by runoff. Its image suits poems about damage that deepens through repetition.
Also Known As
Gulch Ravine Wash
Skip to main content