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Morbid

Disease
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

Relating to disease, death, or unhealthy preoccupation. It suggests a mind or image drawn toward decay and mortality.

Detailed Definition
Morbid can describe physical pathology, but in poetry it more often marks an imagination fascinated by death, decomposition, illness, or bodily failure. A morbid image may linger over graveyard flowers, damaged flesh, diseased animals, or the private rituals of mourning. The word can be dismissive when applied to a speaker’s thoughts, yet poets may reclaim its darkness as an honest attention to what polite language avoids. It often suits gothic and decadent modes.
Example
Example in poetry:
“Morbid rain polished the graves to black mirrors” establishes an atmosphere preoccupied with death; “His morbid imagination kept finding skulls in the clouds” directly characterizes unhealthy fascination; A poet may write, “The morbid garden bloomed with foxgloves and bones,” balancing beauty with decay; “Do not mistake morbid for merely sad, for the morbid image turns deliberately toward death, disease, or bodily ruin”
Additional Notes
Morbid may describe literal disease or an unhealthy fascination with death. Use carefully, since it can characterize a speaker’s imagination as well as imagery.
Also Known As
Diseased Pathological
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