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woe-begone

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

Exhibiting deep sorrow, misery, or distress in appearance; describes forlorn characters or tragic figures in narrative poetry.

Detailed Definition
This is an old-fashioned descriptive word often found in ballads and older poetry. It combines the idea of sorrow with a worn, downcast appearance, fitting the poem’s bleak mood.
Example
Example in poetry:
“So haggard and so woe-begone?” — Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet; “A woe-begone countenance” evokes grief visibly worn on the face; The speaker stood woe-begone beneath the hospital lights; Unlike merely “sad,” woe-begone suggests suffering, exhaustion, and desolation
Additional Notes
The hyphenated word in the line is archaic and not common in everyday modern English.; Found in the poem, La Belle Dame sans Merci: A Ballad by John Keats
Also Known As
mournful woeful forlorn desolate
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