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Metamorphosis

Science
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

A major change in body form during an organism's life cycle. Caterpillars becoming butterflies are a familiar example.

Detailed Definition
Metamorphosis is the biological transformation by which an organism passes from one distinct developmental stage to another, often changing structure, habitat, and behavior. Frogs, moths, beetles, and many other animals undergo such shifts. In poetry, metamorphosis is more than a symbol of change because it implies continuity within alteration: the same life reorganized into a new form. It can illuminate adolescence, recovery, migration, grief, and the frightening wonder of becoming unfamiliar to oneself.
Example
Example in poetry:
Ovid’s Metamorphoses provides classic poetic transformations, such as Daphne becoming a laurel tree; “By morning, the caterpillar’s metamorphosis had made a winged syllable of it” uses biological change as metaphor; A speaker might describe adolescence as metamorphosis, honoring both bodily change and a new identity; “The city underwent metamorphosis after rain, its streets becoming mirrors” extends the term beyond insects while preserving its sense of profound change
Additional Notes
Metamorphosis may be complete, as in butterflies with larva, pupa, and adult stages, or incomplete, as in grasshoppers. The term can suggest dramatic transformation in poetry.
Other Meanings of “Metamorphosis”
Also Known As
Transformation
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