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Smitten

Disease
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

Struck suddenly by illness or powerful emotion; in poetry, it emphasizes a moment of passive affliction, where the character is overwhelmed by an external force.

Detailed Definition
Smitten has religious and literary associations of being struck down by disease, fate, divine judgment, or overwhelming emotion. In poetry, it can make illness feel abrupt and fateful, as though the sufferer has been singled out by an unseen force. The term also retains an alternate sense of being powerfully enamored, allowing poets to yoke love and affliction together. Its elevated tone suits biblical echoes, tragedy, and dramatic lyric speech.
Example
Example in poetry:
“She was smitten with fever before the harvest moon,” using smitten to mean suddenly afflicted; “Smitten by plague, the village bells fell silent” gives disease the force of a blow; A love poem can play on the double meaning in “smitten by love, as by a fever”; “The orchard stood smitten by frost” extends the word from human illness to natural damage
Additional Notes
Means suddenly struck or afflicted, often by disease, grief, or divine punishment. Unlike merely ill, smitten can imply suddenness and emotional force.
Also Known As
Afflicted Stricken smote
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