Home › Glossary › Letter M

Magnitude

Astrology
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

Measure of stellar brightness, from first (brightest) to sixth, affecting influence. In poetry, magnitudes scale glories or dimmed potentials.

Detailed Definition
Magnitude, Hipparchus' scale, ranks fixed stars. Poets magnitude in starry hierarchies like Dante's. Literature degrees light, symbolizing hierarchy. Its scaled brilliance poeticizes gradation, where magnitudes layer heavens, allowing motifs of prominence, obscurity, and the relative shine of fateful beacons.
Example
Example in poetry:
In telescopic sights by Wordsworth: "Magnitude of Sirius dims the plowman's star."; Modern poet Rebecca Elson magnitudes: "Magnitude scales the heart's uncharted depth."; Milton's magnitudes divine: "Magnitude of God's light dwarfs the rebel's pride."; In Keats' vast, magnitude awes: "Magnitude of space cradles the nightingale's note."; Diane Ackerman magnitude night: "Magnitude of owls calls through the dark field's hush."
Additional Notes
Magnitude 1-6 visible; brighter stronger influence. Poets magnitudes glory scales—tip: fixed stars; scales poetic intensities.
Also Known As
Apparent Magnitude
Skip to main content