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

pretense

/ˈpɹiːtɛns/ noun

Also a form of pretence

Forms pretenses pretence prætense

  1. noun (countable or uncountable) The action of pretending; false or simulated show or appearance; false or hypocritical assertion or representation. “He visited the king under the pretense of friendliness.”
  2. noun (uncountable) Affectation or ostentation of manner. “She was a plain-speaking woman without a hint of pretense.”
  3. noun Intention or purpose not real but professed. “with only a pretense of accuracy”
  4. noun An unsupported claim made or implied.
  5. noun An insincere attempt to reach a specific condition or quality.
  6. noun (obsolete) Intention; design.

Synonyms

an awkward situation false pretense fiction imitation pretext sham subterfuge pretence pretending simulation feigning dissembling make-believe pretension guise

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French pretensse, from Late Latin praetēnsus, past participle of Latin praetendō (“to pretend”), from prae- (“before”) + tendō (“to stretch”); see pretend.

Webster’s 1913

  1. noun The act of laying claim; the claim laid; assumption; pretension.
  2. noun The act of holding out, or offering, to others something false or feigned; presentation of what is deceptive or hypocritical; deception by showing what is unreal and concealing what is real; false show; simulation; as, pretense of illness; under pretense of patriotism; on pretense of revenging Cæsar's death.

Etymology [LL. praetensus, for L. praetentus, p. p. of praetendere. See Pretend, and cf. Tension.]

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