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

desensitize

/diːˈsɛnsɪtaɪz/ verb

Forms desensitizes desensitizing desensitized desensitise

  1. verb To render (someone) emotionally or sensationally less responsive or irresponsive, as by long or repeated exposure to something. “Working in an Operating Room desensitized me to the sight of blood.”
  2. verb To render (a person or animal) nonreactive or insensitive to an allergen.
  3. verb (photography) To render (a photographic plate or film) less sensitive or insensitive to actinic rays of light.
  4. verb (psychiatry) To free (someone) from the emotional charge of a neurosis or complex.
  5. verb (printing) To make non-image portions of (a lithographic stone or plate) repellent to ink.

Synonyms

deaden benumb stupefy desensitise

Antonyms

sensitize

Etymology

From de- (“not, do the opposite of, undo”) + sensitize. First attested in the 1900s.

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