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

crescendo

UK /kɹɪˈʃɛn.dəʊ/ · US /kɹɪˈʃɛn.doʊ/ noun, verb, adverb

Forms crescendos crescendi crescendoes crescendoing crescendoed cres. cresc.

  1. noun (music) An instruction to play gradually more loudly, denoted by a long, narrow angle with its apex on the left ( < ), by musicians called a hairpin.
  2. noun (figuratively) A gradual increase of anything, especially to a dramatic climax. “Their fighting rose in a fearsome crescendo.”
  3. noun (figuratively, nonstandard) The climax of a gradual increase. “Their arguing rose to a fearsome crescendo.”
  4. verb To increase in intensity; to reach or head for a crescendo. “The band crescendoed and then suddenly went silent.”
  5. adverb (music) Gradually increasing in force or loudness.

Synonyms

amplification ascension boost gain growth increase loudening spike surge upsurge

Antonyms

decrescendo diminuendo climax conclusion decrease fall

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian crescendo, gerund of crescere (“to grow, to increase”).

Webster’s 1913

  1. adjective With a constantly increasing volume of voice; with gradually increasing strength and fullness of tone; --a direction for the performance of music, indicated by the mark, or by writing the word on the score.

Etymology [It., from crescere to increase. See Crescent.]

Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “crescendo”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details