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

rather

UK /ˈɹɑː.ðə(ɹ)/ · US /ˈɹæðɚ/ adverb, adjective, interjection, noun, verb, proper noun

Forms rathers rathering rathered raither

  1. adverb Used to specify a choice or preference; preferably, in preference to. (Now usually followed by than) “I'd rather not have spent all the money, but it really was an emergency.”
  2. adverb (conjunctive) Used to introduce a contradiction; on the contrary. “It wasn't supposed to be popular; rather, it was supposed to get the job done.”
  3. adverb (conjunctive) Introducing a qualification or clarification; more precisely. (Now usually preceded by or.) “I didn't want to leave. Or rather I did, just not alone.”
  4. adverb (degree) Somewhat, quite; to an unexpected degree. “It's been rather/quite a good meal overall, but this melon is rather too tasteless.”
  5. adverb (obsolete) More quickly.
  6. adjective (obsolete) Prior; earlier; former.
  7. interjection (England, dated) An enthusiastic affirmation. “Would you like some? –Rather!”
  8. noun (informal, dated, uncommon) A choice or a preference.
  9. verb (nonstandard or dialectal) To prefer; to prefer to. “You'd rather us dead.”
  10. proper noun A surname.

Synonyms

sooner liefer somewhat fairly actually unexpectedly earlier instead kind of kinda sort of preferably quite

Antonyms

utterly

Etymology

From Middle English rather, from Old English hraþor, comparative of hraþe (“soon, early, fast”). More at rathe. Cognate with Dutch radder (“faster”), comparative of Dutch rad (“fast; quick”), German Low German radd, ratt (“rashly; quickly; hastily”), German gerade (“even; straight; direct”). By surface analysis, rathe + -er.

Webster’s 1913

  1. adjective Prior; earlier; former. [Obs.]
  2. adverb Earlier; sooner; before. [Obs.]
  3. adverb More readily or willingly; preferably.

Etymology [Compar. of Rath, a.]

Etymology [AS. hrathor, compar. of hrathe, hræ\'ebe, quickly, immediately. See Rath, a.]

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

Sanskrit

Sanskrit dictionary entries whose meaning includes “rather” (best matches first).

All 47 Sanskrit matches →