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Rain on one's parade

Idiomatic Phrase
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

To spoil someone's enjoyment or disrupt happy plans; metaphorically describes raining on a parade, dampening celebration and ruining anticipated pleasure through untimely interference.

Detailed Definition
Rain on one's parade means to spoil someone’s pleasure, pride, celebration, or hopeful moment. In poetry, the idiom combines weather with public festivity, making discouragement feel like a downpour on colour, music, and movement. It can describe criticism, bad news, jealousy, realism, or misfortune interrupting joy. A poet may use it comically when a small pleasure is spoiled, or poignantly when happiness is rare. It is useful for exploring how fragile celebration can be.
Example
Example in poetry:
A comic poem might have a gloomy uncle rain on one's parade just as the birthday band begins; In a love poem, one careless remark rains on the speaker's parade of hope; The phrase means to spoil someone's happiness or celebration; A poet can use it for irony and sudden disappointment.
Additional Notes
Rain on one’s parade means spoil someone’s pleasure, celebration, or hopeful display. The idiom combines public festivity with weather interference, making disappointment visible and atmospheric. In poetry, it can be used for envy, realism, bad news, social obstruction, or comic deflation. Students should ask whether the rain is needless gloom or necessary truth. It pairs well with banners, bands, crowds, umbrellas, and the fragility of public joy.
Also Known As
spoil fun
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