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visage

Noun
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 face or facial expression, especially in a formal or literary style.

Detailed Definition
In older or literary English, visage is a more elevated word for a face. Shelley uses it to describe the broken statue’s face, helping make the ruin feel grand and remote rather than ordinary.
Example
Example in poetry:
“Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown” from Shelley’s “Ozymandias” makes a face survive as ruined sculpture; visage is a formal or literary word for face, often stressing expression; “Her visage held the weather of three decades” gives the face a history; “No visage answered from the darkened glass” makes the absent face uncanny and symbolic
Additional Notes
The word "visage" in the line is a literary term for a face, and many modern readers would pause over it.; Found in the poem, Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley
Also Known As
face countenance appearance Mask
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