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

downsize

/ˈdaʊnsaɪz/ verb

Forms downsizes downsizing downsized

  1. verb (intransitive) To reduce in size or number. “Joe and Edna moved to a bungalow after deciding to downsize when the children had left home.”
  2. verb (transitive) To reduce the workforce of. “They downsized the division by offering attractive early-retirement packages and selling off an office building.”
  3. verb (transitive, euphemistic) To terminate the employment of. “Joe got downsized and became a plumber.”

Synonyms

rightsize axe can decruit dehire discard remove discharge dismiss fire give the axe give someone the boot give someone their cards give the chop give the elbow give someone the heave-ho give someone the old heave-ho lay off let go let someone go

Etymology

From down- + size.

Sources: Wiktionary — from the Wiktionary entry “downsize”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details