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

incisive

/ɪnˈsaɪ.sɪv/ adjective

  1. adjective Intelligently analytical and concise. (of a person or mental process)
  2. adjective Accurate and sharply focused. (of an account)
  3. adjective Quickly proceeding to judgment and forceful in expression. (of an action) “An incisive producer, who expressed vehement disapproval with my pitch upon my first sentence.”
  4. adjective Having the quality of incising, cutting, or penetrating, as with a sharp instrument; trenchant.
  5. adjective (anatomy, relational) Of or relating to the incisors. “the incisive bones, the premaxillaries”

Synonyms

decisive forthright sharp acute sarcastic biting discriminating keen knifelike penetrating penetrative piercing

Etymology

Late Middle English (in the sense “cutting, penetrating”), borrowed from Medieval Latin incīsīvus, from incīdō (“to cut in, cut through”) + -īvus (“-ive”, adjectival suffix). Compare Middle French incisif.

Webster’s 1913

  1. adjective Having the quality of incising, cutting, or penetrating, as with a sharp instrument; cutting; hence, sharp; acute; sarcastic; biting.
  2. adjective Of or pertaining to the incisors; incisor; as, the incisive bones, the premaxillaries.

Etymology [Cf. F. incisif.]

Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “incisive”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details