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poetic

adjective

Simple meaning

Of or about poetry.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

pohehtik

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US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

poʊˈɛtɪk

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

adjective

  1. Of or relating to poetry

  2. Characteristic of poets; romantic, imaginative, etc.

  3. Connecting to the soul of the beholder.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B2 · Upper Intermediate (estimated)
Frequency
Moderately Common
Typical Use
Neutral / general English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: Of or relating to poetry

Used this way, poetic is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It turns up most in literature or storytelling contexts.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
No strong connotation
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Where it naturally appears

  • Literature/storytelling

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use poetic

  • “The author used poetic language to describe the beauty of the sunset.”adjective

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

poetic justicepoetic dictionpoetic licensepoetic languagepoetic formpoetic imaginationpoetic expressionpoetic genius

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • poetic jsticenounCompound term

    An outcome (good or bad) that is well deserved and fitting.

  • poetic licensenounCompound term

    License used by a writer or artist to heighten the effect of their work.

  • poetic rhythmnounCompound term

    A system of versification.

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.