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

railroad

UK /ˈɹeɪlɹəʊd/ · US /ˈɹeɪlɹoʊd/ noun, verb, proper noun

Forms railroads railroading railroaded

  1. noun (chiefly US, Philippines) A permanent track consisting of fixed metal rails to drive trains or similar motorized vehicles on. “Many railroads roughly follow the trace of older land or water roads.”
  2. noun (chiefly US) The transportation system comprising such tracks and vehicles fitted to travel on the rails, usually with several vehicles connected together in a train.
  3. noun (chiefly US) A single, privately or publicly owned property comprising one or more such tracks and usually associated assets “Railroads can only compete fully if their tracks are technically compatible with and linked to each other.”
  4. noun (figuratively) A procedure conducted in haste without due consideration. “The lawyers made the procedure a railroad to get the signatures they needed.”
  5. verb (transitive) To transport via railroad.
  6. verb (intransitive) To operate a railroad. “The Thatcherite experiment proved the private sector can railroad as inefficiently as a state monopoly.”
  7. verb (intransitive) To work for a railroad. “She used to railroad for the Southern Pacific.”
  8. verb (intransitive) To travel by railroad.
  9. verb (intransitive) To engage in a hobby pertaining to railroads.
  10. verb (transitive) To manipulate and hasten a procedure, as of formal approval of a law or resolution. “The majority railroaded the bill through parliament, without the customary expert studies which would delay it till after the elections.”
  11. verb (transitive) To convict of a crime by circumventing due process. “They could only convict him by railroading him on suspect drug-possession charges.”
  12. verb (transitive) To procedurally bully someone into an unfair agreement. “He was railroaded into signing a non-disclosure agreement at his exit interview.”
  13. proper noun A borough in York County, Pennsylvania, United States, so-named for the Northern Central Railway.
  14. proper noun A township in Starke County, Indiana, United States.

Synonyms

railway railroad line railway line railway system railroad track dragoon sandbag

Etymology

From rail + road.

Webster’s 1913

  1. noun A road or way consisting of one or more parallel series of iron or steel rails, patterned and adjusted to be tracks for the wheels of vehicles, and suitably supported on a bed or substructure.
  2. noun The road, track, etc., with al the lands, buildings, rolling stock, franchises, etc., pertaining to them and constituting one property; as, certain railroad has been put into the hands of a receiver.

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