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

meliorate

/ˈmiːli.əɹeɪt/ verb

Forms meliorates meliorating meliorated

  1. verb (transitive) To make better; to improve; to solve a problem. “They offered some compromises in an effort to meliorate the disagreement.”
  2. verb (intransitive) To become better.

Synonyms

ameliorate refine resolve work out amend batten better enhance hone improve get better look up absolve decipher get to the bottom of iron out puzzle out ravel reason out riddle

Etymology

First attested in 1542; borrowed from Late Latin meliorātus, perfect passive participle of meliorō (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), from melior (“better”).

Webster’s 1913

  1. verb To make better; to improve; to ameliorate; to soften; to make more tolerable.
  2. verb To grow better.

Etymology [L. melioratus, p. p. of meliorare to meliorate, fr. melior better; akin to Gr. Ameliorate.]

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