Verb

Infinitive to pronounce

Third person singular pronounces

Simple past pronounced

Past participle pronounced

Present participle pronouncing

to pronounce (third-person singular simple present pronounces, present participle pronouncing, simple past and past participle pronounced)

1. (transitive) To formally declare, officially or ceremoniously.

   I hereby pronounce you man and wife.

2. (intransitive) To pass judgment.

   The judge pronounced often before, but never so widely press-attended

3. (transitive) To sound out (a) word(s).
   • 1869, Mark Twain, The Innocents Abroad, page 182:

     They spell it "Vinci" and pronounce it "Vinchy". Foreigners always spell better than they pronounce.

4. (intransitive) To produce the components of speech.

   Actors must be able to pronounce perfectly or deliberately disabled

5. (transitive) To declare authoritatively, or as a formal expert opinion.

   The doctor pronounced them legally dead

6. (transitive) To read aloud.

Derived terms

• pronounceable
• pronounced
• pronouncer
• pronouncing

Related terms

• pronoun
• pronouncement
• pronunciation

"Pronunciation" refers to the way a word or a language is spoken, or the manner in which someone utters a word. If someone is said to have "correct pronunciation," then it refers to both within a particular dialect.

A word can be spoken in different ways by various individuals or groups, depending on many factors, such as: the area in which they grew up, the area in which they now live, if they have a speech or voice disorder, their ethnic group, their social class, or their education.

Linguistic terminology

Syllables are counted as units of sound (phones) that they use in their language. The branch of linguistics which studies these units of sound is phonetics. Phones which play the same role are grouped together into classes called phonemes; the study of these is phonemics or phonematics or phonology. Phones as components of articulation are usually described using the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA).