Home › Glossary › Letter L

leveled

Verb
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

Made flat or reduced to the same level; here, stripped of distinction.

Detailed Definition
Leveled can mean made even or flattened, but in figurative writing it often means reduced, diminished, or brought down to sameness. The poem uses it to describe the loss of individuality or height of spirit.
Example
Example in poetry:
“And to be understood is to be leveled down” critiques simplification as a loss of complexity; “The flood leveled the cottages” uses the verb literally, meaning razed or made even; “They leveled their eyes at dawn” means directed or aimed; “The old ranks were leveled by grief” uses the word figuratively for erased social distinctions
Additional Notes
In this figurative line, the verb is used in a less everyday sense that readers may need to unpack.; Found in the poem, Defeat by Kahlil Gibran
Also Known As
flattened equalized
Skip to main content