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

acceptable

/əkˈsɛp.tə.bəl/ adjective, noun

Forms acceptables acceptible

adjective Capable, worthy, or sure of being accepted or received with pleasure; welcome; gratifying; pleasing to a receiver. “We need to find an acceptable present for Jeff.”
adjective Barely worthy, less than excellent; passable. “The designs were acceptable, but they were nothing special either.”
noun Someone or something that is acceptable.

Synonyms

agreeable all right amazing as fine as Dick's hatband awesome beatific bene blissful bodacious bona brilliant celestial commendable cool dandy as candy decent delightful divine enjoyable excellent satisfactory

Antonyms

inacceptable rejectable unacceptable

Etymology

From Middle English acceptable, from Anglo-Norman and Middle French acceptable, from Late Latin acceptābilis (“worthy of acceptance”).
Morphologically accept + -able.

Webster’s 1913

adjective Capable, worthy, or sure of being accepted or received with pleasure; pleasing to a receiver; gratifying; agreeable; welcome; as, an acceptable present, one acceptable to us.

Etymology [F. acceptable, L. acceptabilis, fr. acceptare.]

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

Sanskrit

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

अभीप्सित abhīpsita desired, acceptable, dear.
अषतर aṣatara more accessible or acceptable.
प्रतिग्रहणीय prati-grahaṇīya to be taken or accepted, acceptable.
समादेय sam-ādeya to be taken or received, acceptable.
ग्रहणीय grahaṇīya acceptable, to be taken or received or understood.
अनुमोदित anu-modita pleased, delighted, applauded; agreeable, acceptable.
प्रतिगृह्य prati-gṛhya to be accepted, acceptable; one from whom anything may be accepted.
हरणीय haraṇīya to be taken or accepted, acceptable; to be taken away or seized; to be divided.

All 25 Sanskrit matches →