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unrazored

Adjective
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

Unshaved, leaving the beard untrimmed; an archaic adjective used in descriptive verse to convey ruggedness, neglect, or youth.

Detailed Definition
Unrazored is a rare poetic adjective meaning not shaved. It helps create the speaker's stark visual portrait of the man, emphasizing neglect and physical decline.
Example
Example in poetry:
“Staring corpselike at the ceiling, / See his harsh, unrazored features” (Poe, “The Conqueror Worm”); “unrazored” gives a face the roughness of neglect, exhaustion, or death; the word’s negative prefix emphasizes what has not been done rather than simply saying “bearded”; a modern war poem might show an “unrazored medic” to convey sleeplessness and strain
Additional Notes
Unrazored is a rare, old-fashioned-looking descriptive word, and the quoted line uses it in a way many modern readers would not immediately know.; Found in the poem, Suicide by William Ernest Henley
Also Known As
unshorn untrimmed wild
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