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pronounce

verb
pruh-NOWNS/pɹəˈnaʊns/

Formspronounces, pronouncing, pronounced

9 meanings of pronounce

Practice

  1. 1
    verbtransitive
    To sound out a word or phrase; to articulate its sounds.

    Foreign students learn to pronounce unfamiliar consonant clusters.

    He carefully pronounced each guest's name during the introductions.

    Similararticulate, enunciate, say, sound, utter

    Oppositemispronounce, mumble, slur

    Note

    The everyday sense, which Mark Twain set against spelling in The Innocents Abroad (1869): "They spell it 'Vinci' and pronounce it 'Vinchy'. Foreigners always spell better than they pronounce." The object is a word, name or sound, never a message. That is what keeps it apart from the ceremonial meaning, where what is pronounced is a declaration.

  2. 2
    verbtransitive
    To declare something formally, officially, or with ceremony.

    At the wedding, the officiant will pronounce the couple legally married.

    The mayor pronounced the festival officially open from the main stage.

    Similardeclare, proclaim, announce, decree

    Note

    The sense closest to the word's Latin roots: prō- "forth, in public" plus nūntiō "I announce," from nūntius "messenger." To pronounce in this way is to speak like a messenger before witnesses, so the words often do what they say. "I hereby pronounce you man and wife" is what makes the marriage. A blessing, too, is pronounced rather than merely said.

  3. 3
    verbtransitive
    To state something with authority or present it as an expert's formal judgment.

    After examining the painting, the appraisers pronounce it genuine.

    The inspector pronounced the old bridge safe for traffic.

    Similardeclare, judge, deem, certify, rule

    Note

    Here the speaker's authority comes from expertise rather than ceremony. The usual pattern is pronounce + object + verdict: a doctor pronounces someone dead, and in Jethro Tull's Thick As A Brick (1972) a son is pronounced ready for battle. The verb can also introduce a quoted ruling, as when the headmaster in David Walliams's Ratburger (2012) "pronounced" a ban from the front of the class.

  4. 4
    verbtransitive
    To declare officially that a person has died.

    Emergency staff could not pronounce the victim dead until a physician arrived.

    The coroner pronounced her dead at three in the morning.

    Similardeclare, certify

    Note

    In clinical shorthand the word dead can drop out entirely. Medical examiners Carol H. Allan and David R. Fowler, in their 2015 autopsy report on Freddie Gray, wrote that he "was pronounced on 4/19/2015," meaning that his death was formally recorded. Outside medical paperwork, keep dead in the sentence, because general readers will not supply it.

  5. 5
    verbintransitive
    To pass judgment, especially by giving a formal opinion.

    Experts hesitated to pronounce on the cause of the collapse.

    The council finally pronounced on the zoning dispute last night.

    Similarrule, comment, decide, adjudicate, judge

    Note

    Used without an object, the verb puts the weight on the act of judging rather than on what is decided: the judge had pronounced, full stop. When a topic is added, it follows on, as in "experts hesitate to pronounce on the cause." Compare the ceremonial transitive use, where the thing declared follows the verb directly.

  6. 6
    verbintransitive
    To produce the individual sounds that make up speech.

    Some patients find it difficult to pronounce after surgery on the jaw.

    The actor pronounced with great clarity throughout the long monologue.

    Similararticulate, enunciate, speak

    Oppositemumble, slur, mutter

  7. 7
    verbtransitive
    To read a written text aloud to an audience or listener.

    Students take turns to pronounce paragraphs from the textbook.

    The clerk pronounced the entire letter aloud at the meeting.

    Similarrecite, read, declaim

  8. 8
    verbtransitive
    To have a spoken form that resembles that of another word or sound.

    Some dialects pronounce "aunt" like "ahnt" rather than "ant."

    He always pronounced "route" like "rout" instead of "root."

    Similarsay, render

    Note

    This sense lives in the passive and links a spelling to a sound. The respelling follows the verb directly, with no like needed: the double l of Eyjafjallajökull is pronounced tl. Writers often drop the be and set the participle after a foreign name as a quick guide, as in feng shui, pronounced fung shway. The subject is the written word, not the speaker, which separates it from the act of articulating.

  9. 9
    verbtransitive
    To emphasize something or make it more noticeable.

    Sharp tailoring tends to pronounce the shoulders of a jacket.

    The stage lighting pronounced her cheekbones for the whole audience.

    Similaraccentuate, emphasize, highlight, accent, define

    Oppositeminimize, soften, obscure, conceal

Practice

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Origin

Recorded since around 1330 as Middle English pronouncen ('to utter, declare officially'), from Old French prononcier, from Latin prōnūntiō. This was built from prō- ('forth, out, in public') plus nūntiō ('I announce'), from nūntius ('messenger').