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

ad lib

/æd ˈlɪb/ adverb, adjective, noun, verb

Forms ad libs ad libbing ad libbed ad lib. ad-lib adlib

  1. adverb At pleasure.
  2. adverb At will.
  3. adverb As much as desired, to one's fill, without restriction.
  4. adverb Extemporaneously.
  5. adjective Extemporaneous, impromptu. “We were shocked to learn that the entire show was an ad lib performance. How did they weave it together so expertly on the fly?”
  6. adjective (of feed or food access for livestock or humans) That provides as much as each one desires, to each one's fill, without restriction. “ad lib feed”
  7. noun (acting) An instance of something improvised, especially a line.
  8. noun (music, chiefly hip-hop) Improvised vocals added after the main vocals have been recorded which serve to emphasize the rhythm or fill the lyrical bar line.
  9. verb To perform without a script.
  10. verb To perform without preparation.
  11. verb To perform extemporaneously. “She ad libbed the rest of the scene.”
  12. verb (music, chiefly hip hop, intransitive) To perform ad libs; to improvise lyrics after the main lyrics have been recorded.
  13. verb (music, chiefly hip hop, transitive) To perform (lyrics) as ad libs.

Synonyms

a piacere ex tempore extempore impromptu on the fly fake ad libitum spontaneously

Etymology

Abbreviation of ad libitum, borrowed from New Latin ad libitum.

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