Home › Glossary › Letter S

scissors

Tools
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

Scissors are a cutting tool with two pivoted blades and finger loops, used to cut paper, cloth, hair, thread, and other thin materials.

Detailed Definition
Scissors cut by bringing two sharpened blades past one another, allowing controlled division with repeated opening and closing. They belong to sewing rooms, classrooms, kitchens, gardens, salons, and ceremonies. In poetry they may evoke childhood craft, domestic labour, censorship, severed relationships, or the cutting of life's thread. Their paired blades suggest cooperation in division, while the decisive snip can symbolise sudden change, release, or loss. The tool's familiar harmlessness can also heighten darker contexts.
Example
Example in poetry:
The dressmaker's scissors opened and closed like the beak of a silver bird; Scissors may symbolise severance, censorship, release, or the cutting of life's thread; In childhood poetry, they can evoke paper shapes and classroom craft; One decisive snip may represent the ending of a relationship or attachment.
Additional Notes
Scissors cut through the coordinated movement of two blades, making them a useful image of cooperation that produces separation. They may appear in sewing, schoolwork, hair cutting, gardening, censorship, craft, or ceremonial ribbon cutting. In poetry a single snip can represent decisive release or irreversible loss. Their shape and movement are often compared with beaks. Related terms include shears, snips, blades, cloth, paper, thread, cutting, censorship, severance, childhood, domestic labour, fate, and the symbolic cutting of life's thread.
Also Known As
shears pair of scissors
Skip to main content