Pronunciation guide: IPA symbols, stress and word endings

Vowels

iː	see	ɪ	sit	e / ɛ	bed	æ	cat
ɑː	father	ɒ	hot (UK)	ɔː	law	ʊ	put
uː	too	ʌ	cup	ɜː	bird	ə	about
eɪ	day	aɪ	my	ɔɪ	boy	aʊ	now
əʊ / oʊ	go (UK / US)	ɪə	near	eə	hair	ʊə	tour

Consonants that look unusual

θ	thin	ð	this	ʃ	she	ʒ	measure
tʃ	church	dʒ	judge	ŋ	sing	j	yes

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

manifest destiny

noun, verb

Forms manifests destiny manifesting destiny manifested destiny

noun The political doctrine or belief held by the United States of America, particularly during its expansion, that the nation was obviously destined to expand toward the west.
noun The political doctrine or belief held by many citizens of the United States of America that their system is best, and the idea that all humans would like to become Americans.
noun The belief that God supports the expansion of the United States of America throughout the entire North American continent except Mexico.
verb (informal) To exercise and realize manifest destiny; to enable the cultural and political expansion of the United States of America. “The Homestead Acts allowed millions of settlers to populate unclaimed land and manifest destiny out on the frontier.”

Synonyms

w:American exceptionalism

Etymology

Popularly attributed to newspaper editor John O'Sullivan (1813–1895). The phrase was first used primarily by Jackson Democrats in the 1840s to promote the annexation of much of what is now the Western United States.

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