phonetically

[fuh-net-ik-lee]

adverb

1. involving the sounds, production, or transcription of speech.

   Many children learn to read phonetically, by sounding out the letters of each word.

   Peas and beans are linked phonetically not only by the repeated vowel sound, but also by the initial consonants—the sounds p and b are both produced in the same way.

2. according to the way something is pronounced.

   When he has to write words he doesn’t know, Jabez gets his point across by spelling phonetically.

Other Word Forms

• nonphonetically adverb
• unphonetically adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of phonetically¹

phonetic ( def. ) + -ally ( def. )

Example Sentences

The Raincoats played two nights, and by the second night, the crowd was singing along like they were pop stars: “they’d taped the first show and gone home, obsessively listened, and learned the words phonetically.”

From Salon

Oliver joked that Vance learned how to laugh through reading about it in books or comics, "saw it written out phonetically, and intellectually understood the noises Archie made."

From Salon

The first experiment involved the participants remembering words in order -- words that were similar, either phonetically or in spelling, e.g. "bought," "caught," "taut" and "wart."

From Science Daily

The months in the calendar are spelt phonetically to reflect the local dialect, while the card bears the message: "Happy crooked Christmas."

From BBC

Many of the names were written phonetically, she said, which often resulted in misspellings.

From New York Times