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Scree

Landscape
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 slope covered with loose stones that have fallen from a cliff or mountain.

Detailed Definition
Scree makes a landscape feel unstable underfoot, alive with the memory of falling rock. Its gray or broken surface can lie beneath a cliff like debris from a slow, continuing collapse. In poetry, scree is useful for scenes of difficult ascent, precarious movement, and harsh mountain weather, where every step shifts and the ground refuses easy certainty.
Example
Example in poetry:
“Scree slid beneath my boots like a field of loose bones,” using broken rock to convey instability; A mountain poem can make a climber cross scree slowly, turning physical caution into emotional tension; “The scree answered each step with a dry rattle,” adding sound and texture to a stark setting; Compare a crumbling relationship to scree, where every movement causes further collapse
Additional Notes
Scree consists of loose rock fragments below a cliff or mountain. Its unstable footing and sharp sound make it effective imagery for danger, erosion, aftermath, and the difficulty of ascent or descent.
Other Meanings of “Scree”
Also Known As
Talus Talus Slope
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