Home › Glossary › Letter H

hymnal phrase

Phrase
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

An expression imitating the formal, devotional language of religious hymns

Detailed Definition
Hymnal phrases use elevated diction, regular meter, and communal “we” to frame praise; they transform personal faith into shared song, aligning poetic craft with congregational worship and doctrinal affirmation.
Example
Example in poetry:
“Amazing grace! how sweet the sound” demonstrates the direct praise and memorable cadence of hymnal language; “Holy, holy, holy” uses repeated sacred address to make communal worship audible; A hymnal phrase often employs imperative invitation: “Sing, O my soul,” or “Let every voice arise”; Contemporary poems may borrow such cadences reverently or critically, as when a speaker frames protest as a collective refrain: “May the unheard be heard”
Additional Notes
Hymnal phrases imitate religious hymns: “Glory to God in the highest”; they evoke reverence, ritual, and communal worship; use parallelism, archaic diction, and refrain; avoid sentimentality—maintain formal dignity; related to canticle phrase, benediction formula, liturgical phrase; powerful in poems of faith, doubt, or spiritual crisis.
Also Known As
hymn phrase devotional phrase worship phrase
Skip to main content