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

vain

/veɪn/ adjective, verb

Forms vainer vainest vains vaining vained wayn

  1. adjective Overly proud of oneself, especially concerning appearance; having a high opinion of one's own accomplishments with slight reason.
  2. adjective Having no real substance, value, or importance; empty; void; worthless; unsatisfying.
  3. adjective Effecting no purpose; pointless, futile. “vain toil    a vain attempt”
  4. adjective Showy; ostentatious.
  5. verb (transitive, rare, dated, obsolete) To frustrate.

Synonyms

conceited flatulent puffed up inflated airy arrogant chesty authoritarian biggity big-headed blustery turgescent boastful lordly bombastic buggish cocky disdainful domineering egotistical egotistic self-conceited swollen swollen-headed bootless fruitless futile sleeveless

Antonyms

modest nonnarcissistic

Etymology

From Middle English veyn, from Old French vain, from Latin vānus (“empty”).

A conversion of the adjectival form of vain. The only use of this verb in English appears c. 1628 in the writings of Owen Felltham.

Webster’s 1913

  1. adjective Having no real substance, value, or importance; empty; void; worthless; unsatisfying. "Thy vain excuse." Shak.
  2. adjective Destitute of forge or efficacy; effecting no purpose; fruitless; ineffectual; as, vain toil; a vain attempt.
  3. noun Vanity; emptiness; --now used only in the phrase in vain. For vain. See In vain. [Obs.] Shak.

Etymology [F. vain, L. vanus empty, void, vain. Cf. Vanish, Vanity, Vaunt to boast.]

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

Sanskrit

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

All 78 Sanskrit matches →