Home › Glossary › Letter S

sibyllic phrase

Phrase
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

An utterance echoing the cryptic, doom-laden prophecies of classical sibyls

Detailed Definition
Sibyllic phrases blend ancient authority with apocalyptic dread, using fragmented syntax and elemental imagery; they frame poetry as vessel for inescapable fate, spoken in tongues both archaic and urgent.
Example
Example in poetry:
The veil is thin between breath and bone; the door stands ajar—will you step through?; the hour is near when rivers run backward; the gods have spoken in crows and cracked ice, but who deciphers their tongue?; shadows gather where light once promised forever.
Additional Notes
Sibyllic phrases echo the cryptic prophecies of classical seers: “The veil is thin; the door is open”; they are fragmented, paradoxical, and doom-laden; use them to invoke fate, crisis, or unspoken truth; avoid pretension—ground in concrete images: “the crow flies backward”; related to sibylline phrase, oracular phrase, and prophetic phrase; ideal for poems of apocalypse, transformation, or spiritual rupture.
Also Known As
sibyllic utterance prophetic riddle doom-laden phrase
Skip to main content