Home › Glossary › Letter I

irised

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

Displaying rainbow-like, luminous colors or an iridescent shimmer; this adjective is used poetically to describe natural phenomena, jewels, or light effects, evoking beauty, transience, and ethereal wonder.

Detailed Definition
The word suggests that the rain has the shifting colors of an iris or rainbow. It contributes to the poem’s sudden transformation of the weather and seascape.
Example
Example in poetry:
“And there flew an irised rain” describes rain made rainbow-colored by light; “Irised spray rose from the waterfall” turns a noun into a vivid adjective; “An irised oil-slick trembled on the street” can make beauty uneasy or polluted; The term derives from iris, the rainbow, and is especially effective for fleeting prismatic color
Additional Notes
“Irised” is a rare poetic adjective, and the quoted phrase uses it for rain that appears multicolored or rainbow-like.; Found in the poem, Beeny Cliff by Thomas Hardy
Also Known As
rainbowed prismatic colorful
Skip to main content