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

limelight

/ˈlaɪm.laɪt/ noun, verb

Forms limelights limelighting limelighted limelit

  1. noun The intense white light produced when heating lime in an oxyhydrogen flame.
  2. noun A type of stage lighting once used in theatres and music halls, producing a bright light by the use of incandescent quicklime.
  3. noun (by extension) Attention, notice, a starring or central role, present fame; spotlight. “steal the limelight”
  4. verb to illuminate with limelight

Synonyms

Drummond light spotlight glare public eye calcium light

Etymology

From lime + light.

Webster’s 1913

  1. noun That part of the stage upon which the limelight as cast, usually where the most important action is progressing or where the leading player or players are placed and upon which the attention of the spectators is therefore concentrated. Hence, consspicuous position before the public; as, politicians who are never happy except in the limelight.

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