Klryz
Pronunciation guide: IPA symbols, stress and word endings

Vowels

iːseeɪsite / ɛbedæcat
ɑːfatherɒhot (UK)ɔːlawʊput
uːtooʌcupɜːbirdəabout
eɪdayaɪmyɔɪboyaʊnow
əʊ / oʊgo (UK / US)ɪəneareəhairʊətour

Consonants that look unusual

θthinðthisʃsheʒmeasure
tʃchurchdʒjudgeŋsingjyes

p b t d k g f v s z h m n l r w sound as in ordinary English spelling.

Marks

  • ˈ main stress, before the stressed syllable: /ˈwɔːtə/ water · ˌ lighter (secondary) stress: /ˌʌndəˈstænd/ understand
  • ː a long vowel · (r) an r said only in accents that pronounce it (most American, Scottish, Irish)

Common word endings

  • -s / -es (plurals; he/she form of verbs): /s/ after voiceless sounds (cats), /z/ after voiced (dogs), /ɪz/ after s, z, sh, ch, j sounds (buses, watches). Spelling: -es after s, x, z, ch, sh; consonant + y → -ies (city → cities).
  • -ed (past): /t/ after voiceless sounds (walked), /d/ after voiced (played), /ɪd/ after t or d (wanted). Spelling: love → loved, stop → stopped, carry → carried.
  • -ing: make → making, run → running, see → seeing.
  • Irregular: go, went, gone · be, was, been · see, saw, seen · man → men · child → children · mouse → mice.
  • Older (King James) forms: -eth = -s (he loveth = he loves) · -est with “thou” (thou lovest) · spake = spoke.

English Dictionary · 107,383 entries · Sources & licences

breakthrough

UK /ˈbɹeɪk.θɹuː/ · US /ˈbɹeɪk.θɹu/ adjective, noun

Forms breakthroughs breakthru

  1. adjective Characterized by major progress or overcoming some obstacle. “a breakthrough technological advance”
  2. adjective (immunology) Involving the contraction of a disease by a person with a decreased susceptibility, such as a person who has been vaccinated to help prevent that disease.
  3. noun (military) An advance through and past enemy lines.
  4. noun Any major progress; such as a great innovation or discovery that overcomes a significant obstacle. “Albert Einstein is credited with making some of the greatest breakthroughs in modern physics.”
  5. noun (sports) The penetration of the opposition's defence.
  6. noun (construction) The penetration of a separating wall or the remaining distance to an adjacent hollow (a crosscut in mining) or between two parts of a tunnel build from both ends.
  7. noun (medicine, sometimes attributive) The emergence or one or more symptoms of a condition despite medication or other medical treatment. “She was on two antiepileptics for five years but then had a breakthrough seizure.”

Synonyms

knockthrough discovery find

Etymology

From break + through. Compare German Durchbruch and Dutch doorbraak (“breakthrough”, literally “through-break”).

Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 — from the Wiktionary entry “breakthrough”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details