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tiara

Apparel
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 small, jeweled, semi-circular crown worn by women as a formal headpiece, often associated with beauty pageants, royalty, and fairy-tale princesses in contemporary poetry.

Detailed Definition
The tiara is a garment of glamour and aspiration, its glittering stones and delicate metalwork evoking a world of palaces and red carpets. In poetry, the tiara can be a symbol of feminine power and achievement, as in beauty pageants, but also of fleeting superficiality—it sits lightly on the head and can be easily removed. In love poetry, a tiara might be a fantastical gift, a promise of a fairy-tale life. In satirical verse, the tiara is sometimes mocked as a bauble of pretension. Its association with young girls' play and princess culture gives it a nostalgic, childlike quality, and poets use it to explore themes of dreams, identity, and the gap between fantasy and reality. The tiara's delicate construction also makes it a symbol of fragility, easily tarnished or broken.
Example
Example in poetry:
"Her tiara of diamonds was a constellation on her forehead"; "The tiara's small crown was a statement of achievement"; "She wore her tiara to the ball, a girl of the fairy tale"; "The tiara, too heavy for her head, was a burden of beauty"; "He placed the tiara on her head and made her a queen for a night"; "The tiara's gems caught the light and scattered it like tears"
Additional Notes
The tiara is a garment of glamour and aspiration, its glittering stones and delicate metalwork evoking a world of palaces and red carpets. In poetry, the tiara can be a symbol of feminine power and achievement, as in beauty pageants, but also of fleeting superficiality—it sits lightly on the head and can be easily removed. In love poetry, a tiara might be a fantastical gift, a promise of a fairy-tale life. In satirical verse, the tiara is sometimes mocked as a bauble of pretension. Its association with young girls' play and princess culture gives it a nostalgic, childlike quality. Related terms include crown, coronet, and diadem. Students should note the tiara's associations with glamour, fantasy, and the performative nature of femininity.
Other Meanings of “tiara”
Also Known As
jeweled coronet papal crown ornate head ornament coronet diadem
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