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

understatement

UK /ˌʌndəˈsteɪtmənt/ · US /ˌʌndɚˈsteɪtmənt/ noun

Forms understatements

  1. noun (uncountable, rhetoric) A figure of speech whereby something is made to seem smaller or less important than it actually is, either through phrasing or lack of emphasis, often for ironic effect. “A master of understatement”
  2. noun (countable) An instance of such phrasing or lack of emphasis; an incomplete statement. “Now that's an understatement.”
  3. noun An incomplete disclosure that intentionally withholds relevant information.

Synonyms

meiosis trivialization

Antonyms

auxesis hyperbole exaggeration overstatement

Etymology

From under- + statement or understate + -ment.

Webster’s 1913

  1. noun The act of understating, or the condition of being understated; that which is understated; a statement below the truth.

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