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

kick off

verb

Forms kicks off kicking off kicked off

  1. verb (ambitransitive) To make the first kick in a game or part of a game. “The players kick off for the third quarter and the clock starts.”
  2. verb (ambitransitive, idiomatic) To start; to launch; to set in motion. “Let's kick off this project with a planning meeting.”
  3. verb (transitive) To dismiss; to expel; to remove from a position. “I got kicked off the team after a string of poor performances”
  4. verb (intransitive, US, idiomatic, colloquial, euphemistic) To die or quit permanently. “It's a wonder that old dog hasn't kicked off yet.”
  5. verb (intransitive, US, idiomatic) To shut down or turn off suddenly. “The washer was working fine until it kicked off in the middle of a cycle.”
  6. verb (intransitive, idiomatic) To suddenly become more active. “The party kicked off when the third bottle of wine was opened.”
  7. verb (transitive, US, idiomatic, ranching, slang) To force the weaning of a bovine cow's calf by restricting the calf's access to its mother's udders, whether by literally kicking it away or another method. “A week after we kicked off her calf that cow was still bawling.”
  8. verb (intransitive, UK, idiomatic, colloquial) To be overcome with anger, to start an argument or a fight; to behave aggressively. “When she called him a drunk, it was the last straw. He just kicked off.”

Synonyms

start off inaugurate

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