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Nor'easter

Weather
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 powerful storm along the eastern coast of North America, marked by strong northeast winds.

Detailed Definition
A nor'easter is a large coastal storm that commonly brings heavy rain, snow, rough seas, and flooding to the eastern United States and Canada. Its name refers to the strong winds that blow from the northeast along the shore. In poetry, the nor'easter can widen a scene from a single house or harbor to an entire battered coastline, making weather feel ancestral and immense.
Example
Example in poetry:
“The nor'easter worried the shingles all night” gives the storm an active, threatening presence; A coastal elegy might say, “After the nor'easter, the harbor counted its broken boats,” linking weather to communal loss; “Her letters arrived like a nor'easter, salt-edged and impossible to ignore” uses the regional storm as a metaphor for emotional force; Naming a nor'easter can ground a poem in the northeastern Atlantic coast and evoke wind, snow, rain, and rough seas
Additional Notes
A nor'easter is named for the northeast winds that strike the coast. In poetry, it can evoke rough seas, winter isolation, flooding, and endurance.
Other Meanings of “Nor'easter”
Also Known As
Northeaster Nor'east
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