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perennial

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

Lasting indefinitely, recurring year after year, or continually present; describes enduring love or persistent natural life in verse.

Detailed Definition
Perennial can mean something that lasts through the seasons or keeps returning. In the poem, it describes love as enduring and ever-renewing, like grass that comes back year after year.
Example
Example in poetry:
“It is as perennial as the grass” stresses recurring life and endurance; Wordsworth’s daffodils become perennial in memory as well as season; “Perennial weeds split the pavement each spring,” applies the adjective literally; A contemporary elegy may call love “perennial, returning through weather”
Additional Notes
"Perennial" is not obscure, but it is a somewhat specialized literary word here, and the comparison may prompt readers to check its exact sense.; Found in the poem, Desiderata by Max Ehrmann
Also Known As
everlasting enduring timeless
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