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mispronounce

[ mis-pruh-nouns ]

/ ˌmɪs prəˈnaʊns /

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See synonyms for mispronounce on Thesaurus.com

verb (used with or without object), mis·pro·nounced, mis·pro·nounc·ing.

to pronounce incorrectly.

VIDEO FOR MISPRONOUNCE

Words Bookworms Mispronounce Because We Read Them First

You are in very good company. Take a look at some of the words butchered by Dictionary.com fans who admit they learned them while reading.

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CAN YOU ANSWER THESE COMMON GRAMMAR DEBATES?

There are grammar debates that never die; and the ones highlighted in the questions in this quiz are sure to rile everyone up once again. Do you know how to answer the questions that cause some of the greatest grammar debates?

Question 1 of 7

Which sentence is correct?

His boss, whom he admires, is waiting to meet with him about the big project.

His boss, who he admires, is waiting to meet with him about the big project.

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Origin of mispronounce

First recorded in 1585–95; mis-¹ + pronounce

OTHER WORDS FROM mispronounce

mis·pro·nounc·er, nounmis·pro·nun·ci·a·tion

[mis-pruh-nuhn-see-ey-shuhn], /ˌmɪs prəˌnʌn siˈeɪ ʃən/, noun

Words nearby mispronounce

mispleading, misprint, misprise, misprision, misprize, mispronounce, misproud, mispunctuate, misquotation, misquote, Misr

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use mispronounce in a sentence

My name was mispronounced my entire childhood, and after a few failed attempts to correct it, I stopped trying.
The ghosts of our motel|Sabaa Tahir|November 29, 2021|Vox
While it’s a name that many mispronounce, it’s also one that’s rapidly rising in the comedy charts.
18 Comics of Tomorrow|Sohini Das Gupta|August 1, 2021|Ozy
Smith also deliberately mispronounced the names of several Nigerian men’s basketball players on Monday’s episode following the national team’s exhibition upset of Team USA, for which he also apologized Tuesday.
After Stephen A. Smith’s rant about Shohei Ohtani, his ESPN co-workers led the pushback|Ben Strauss|July 13, 2021|Washington Post
When people slightly mispronounce words, our minds auto-correct and we hear the word pronounced correctly.
This Vision Experiment Resolved a Centuries-Old Philosophical Debate - Facts So Romantic|Jim Davies|August 14, 2020|Nautilus

He’s also repeatedly stressed his “conservative Tennessee values” as a native son of the state and introduced a dark racial undertone to the race by consistently mispronouncing Sethi’s last name as “Set-ee” instead of “Seth-ee.”
What To Watch For In Tennessee’s Primary|Geoffrey Skelley (geoffrey.skelley@abc.com)|August 6, 2020|FiveThirtyEight
On Tuesday night, David Letterman titled his Top Ten list "Top Ten Ways to Mispronounce Idina Menzel."
John Travolta and the Birth of the Adele Dazeem Phenomenon|Amy Zimmerman|March 5, 2014|DAILY BEAST
To mispronounce a word because it is misspelt is only indirectly an error of orthoepy.
The English Language|Robert Gordon Latham
There were two lines in it which I am going to mispronounce; but you are not Scotch, so I don't care for you, uncle, darling.
Love Me Little, Love Me Long|Charles Reade
They acquire a number of new words, which they do not understand and which they persistently mispronounce.
A Book of the West. Volume I Devon|S. Baring-Gould
It is common to hear English-speakers mispronounce the words Buddha and Buddhism.
Buddhism, In its Connexion With Brahmanism and Hinduism, and In Its Contrast with Christianity|Sir Monier Monier-Williams
As if that were not wild enough, they mispronounce it atrociously.
Ruggles of Red Gap|Harry Leon Wilson

British Dictionary definitions for mispronounce

mispronounce

/ (ˌmɪsprəˈnaʊns) /

verb

to pronounce (a word) wrongly

Derived forms of mispronounce

mispronunciation (ˌmɪsprəˌnʌnsɪˈeɪʃən), noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012