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lame

Adjective
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

Unable to walk normally due to injury or disability, often with a limp; in poetry, lame evokes physical or metaphorical insufficiency, weakness, or the pitiable condition of the fallen or marred.

Detailed Definition
In older or literary usage, lame can mean physically unable to walk well, not just “awkward” or “weak.” In this poem, the speaker says “I’m lame,” which helps explain why she cannot keep up with the others and feels left behind.
Example
Example in poetry:
“I’m lame, they push me” presents lameness as bodily vulnerability and social pressure; “The lame man leaped as an hart” is a biblical-style image of healing; “A lame excuse limped through the room” extends the adjective metaphorically to weak reasoning; “Our lame old bus climbed the hill” uses the word colloquially for impaired movement or function
Additional Notes
In the line “I’m lame,” the word is used in its older physical sense, which some readers may need to look up.; Found in the poem, I Am Lonely by George Eliot
Also Known As
crippled disabled impaired hindered
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