Pronunciation guide: IPA symbols, stress and word endings

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.

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)

-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.

stalemate

/ˈsteɪlmeɪt/ noun, verb

Forms stalemates stalemating stalemated

noun (chess) The state in which the player to move is not in check but has no legal moves, resulting in a draw.
noun (figuratively, by extension) Any situation that has no obvious possible movement, but involves no personal loss.
noun Any kind of match in which neither contestant laid claim to victory; a draw.
verb (chess, transitive) To bring about a state in which the player to move is not in check but has no legal moves.
verb (transitive, figuratively) To bring about a stalemate, in which no advance in an argument is achieved.

Synonyms

From stale + mate.

noun The position of the king when he can not move without being placed on check and there is no other piece which can be moved.
verb To subject to a stalemate; hence, to bring to a stand.

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