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Rainbow

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 colored arc of light produced when sunlight passes through rain.

Detailed Definition
A rainbow forms when sunlight enters raindrops, bends, reflects inside them, and separates into bands of color. It appears opposite the sun and often follows or accompanies rain. In poetry, the rainbow is a familiar emblem of hope, promise, beauty, and transience, though it can also be complicated by irony or longing. Because it depends on a particular angle of light and vision, it may suggest that consolation is real yet temporary and personal.
Example
Example in poetry:
A rainbow rose over the burned field, not erasing the ash but brightening the rain; Use rainbow as an arc of light produced when sunlight passes through water droplets; In Wordsworth's “My Heart Leaps Up,” the rainbow prompts the speaker's joyful cry, “My heart leaps up when I behold”; A poet can resist an easy hopeful rainbow by placing it above damage, grief, or an unresolved human conflict
Additional Notes
A rainbow appears when sunlight is refracted, reflected, and dispersed by water droplets. In poetry, its arc may represent hope after rain, beauty that cannot be held, connection, or a bridge between elements.
Other Meanings of “Rainbow”
Also Known As
Bow Prismatic Arc
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