Home › Glossary › Letter L

Lifeboat

Transport
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 small rescue boat carried by a larger vessel or kept near shore. It symbolizes survival, emergency, and fragile hope.

Detailed Definition
A lifeboat is a small craft intended to save people from shipwreck, flooding, or danger at sea. In poetry, it concentrates dramatic human experience into a confined space: frightened passengers, limited provisions, cold water, and an uncertain horizon. The lifeboat may symbolize hope under pressure, but also the painful choices made when safety cannot include everyone. Its bright paint or single lamp can become a striking image of human persistence against darkness and indifferent weather.
Example
Example in poetry:
“The lifeboat swung above the black water” creates immediate danger before anyone enters the boat; A lifeboat can symbolize fragile hope: “We climbed into the lifeboat of one remaining promise”; In a sea elegy, an empty lifeboat may imply survivors, absence, or guilt; “At dawn, the lifeboat returned with six silent oars” uses a concrete detail to intensify grief
Additional Notes
A lifeboat heightens scenes of shipwreck, evacuation, and uncertain survival. Poets may contrast its smallness with the vast sea to emphasize vulnerability, courage, or hope. It can also stand for a last refuge.
Also Known As
Life Boat Rescue Boat
Skip to main content