pronounce
part of speech
verb (pronounce, pronounces, pronounced, pronouncing)
meaning for a pupil
1) To say a word's sounds in a particular way: How do you pronounce «Worcestershire»? tree →
2) (formal) To announce or declare something officially: The doctor pronounced him fit. tree →
3) To give a judgement or opinion: The judge pronounced the sentence. tree →
sense in the lessons
In English lessons pupils learn to pronounce new words, sounds and silent letters (the k in «knee»). In stories and ceremonies: «I now pronounce you husband and wife». In science and medicine, a doctor pronounces someone healthy. Phrases: «pronounce correctly», «pronounce a word», «pronounce judgement», «pronounce dead» (formal, sad).
examples
- How do you pronounce this word? tree →
- The k in «knife» is not pronounced. tree →
- She pronounced each word carefully. tree →
- The judges pronounced the cake the winner. tree →
- The doctor pronounced her fit to play. tree →
- I can't pronounce the name of that town in Wales. tree →
- The teacher helped us pronounce «Wednesday». tree →
- He was quite hoarse, and could not pronounce "Bow wow" properly. tree →
note
Regular verb: pronounced. Spelling trap: the noun is «pronunciation» — no «o» after the n: pro-NUN-ciation, not «pronounciation». Not the same as «announce».
In the corpora
- An accent is the way people pronounce words; a dialect is a local way of speaking with its own words and grammar.
- And the priest shall look on the raw flesh, and pronounce him unclean; the raw flesh is unclean: it is leprosy.
- And if it spread abroad in the skin, then the priest shall pronounce him unclean: it is a plague.
- he is a leprous man, he is unclean; the priest shall surely pronounce him unclean: his plague is in his head.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «pronounce» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.