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misty

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

Full of mist; unclear or hazy. In poetry, it can also suggest something vague or dreamlike.

Detailed Definition
The word misty describes something blurred or indistinct, but in this poem it also helps create a dreamlike atmosphere. Dowson uses it to make the speaker’s path seem uncertain and half-seen.
Example
Example in poetry:
“Out of a misty dream” uses misty for blurred, vaporous uncertainty; The misty field erased the fence posts one by one; Wordsworth’s “I wandered lonely as a cloud” shows how weather can shape inward vision; In contemporary elegy, a misty memory may convey grief’s incomplete recall
Additional Notes
The quoted phrase uses misty in a poetic, atmospheric way that may prompt readers to pause over its figurative force.; Found in the poem, Vitae Summa Brevis by Ernest Dowson
Also Known As
hazy foggy nebulous
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