Home › Glossary › Letter R

Reel

Dance
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

Want to hear it? Click the Listen button to hear the browser speak the word using text-to-speech!

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 fast folk dance, especially associated with Scotland and Ireland, performed to a lively duple-time tune. In poetry, it evokes communal energy, tradition, celebration, and rapid movement.

Detailed Definition
The reel is a vigorous dance form central to Scottish and Irish musical traditions, often performed in groups with quick travelling steps and repeated figures. Its speed and circular motion make it a natural image for excitement, social unity, or dizzying change. In poetry, reels appear in descriptions of village gatherings, weddings, seasonal festivities, and cultural memory. The word may also work metaphorically, suggesting a world spinning beyond control, a mind overwhelmed by sensation, or history moving in swift and recurring patterns.
Example
Example in poetry:
“The reel quickened until the floor seemed to turn beneath the dancers” conveys speed and communal energy; A poet may describe Highland or Irish musicians launching into a reel at a wedding; “Leaves chased one another in a reel along the lane” applies the dance to rapid natural movement; Reel imagery can express celebration, cultural identity, dizziness, or a world spinning beyond human control.
Additional Notes
The reel is central to several Scottish and Irish dance and musical traditions, though particular forms differ. Its rapid, repeating motion can represent celebration, cultural belonging, intoxication, or a world spinning out of control. Poets may imitate its energy through quick stresses, repeated verbs, and linked images. Students should distinguish the dance from the ordinary verb meaning to stagger or spin, while also noticing deliberate wordplay between them. Related terms include strathspey, jig, ceilidh, fiddle tune, set dance, and folk memory.
Also Known As
Traditional Reel Folk Dance Circle Dance
Skip to main content