pronounce

American  

[pruh-nouns] / prəˈnaʊns /

verb (used with object)

• pronounces,
  present (3rd person singular)
• pronounced,
  past participle,  past
• pronouncing
  present participle

1. to enunciate or articulate (sounds, words, sentences, etc.).

2. to utter or sound in a particular manner in speaking.

   He pronounces his words indistinctly.

3. to utter or articulate in the accepted or correct manner.

   I can't pronounce this word.

4. to declare (a person or thing) to be as specified.

   She pronounced it the best salmon she had ever tasted.

5. to utter or deliver formally or solemnly.

   to pronounce sentence.

6. to announce authoritatively or officially.

   The judge pronounced the defendant guilty.

7. to indicate the pronunciation of (words) by providing a phonetic transcription.

   This dictionary pronounces most of the words entered.

---

verb (used without object)

• pronounces,
  present (3rd person singular)
• pronounced,
  past participle,  past
• pronouncing
  present participle

1. to pronounce words, phrases, etc.

2. to make a statement or assertion, especially an authoritative statement (often followed byon ).

   He was required to pronounce on the findings of his research.

3. to give an opinion or decision (usually followed byon ).

   to pronounce on an important matter.

4. to indicate the pronunciation of words.

   a spelling book that pronounces.

pronounce British  

/ prəˈnaʊns /

verb

1. to utter or articulate (a sound or sequence of sounds)

2. (tr) to utter or articulate (sounds or words) in the correct way

3. (tr; may take a clause as object) to proclaim officially and solemnly

   I now pronounce you man and wife

4. (when tr, may take a clause as object) to declare as one's judgment

   to pronounce the death sentence upon someone

5. (tr) to make a phonetic transcription of (sounds or words)

---

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• pronounceableness
  noun
• pronouncer
  noun
• prepronounce
  verb (used with object)
• pronounceable
  adjective
• unpronounceable
  adjective
• unpronouncing
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Participles

• pronouncing
  present
• pronounced
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• pronounce
  simple
• pronounces
  simple
• have pronounced
  perfect
• has pronounced
  perfect
• am pronouncing
  progressive
• are pronouncing
  progressive
• is pronouncing
  progressive
• have been pronouncing
  perfect progressive
• has been pronouncing
  perfect progressive

Past

• pronounced
  simple
• had pronounced
  perfect
• was pronouncing
  progressive
• were pronouncing
  progressive
• had been pronouncing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will pronounce
  simple
• will have pronounced
  perfect
• will be pronouncing
  progressive
• will have been pronouncing
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of pronounce

First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English pronouncen, from Middle French prononcier, from Latin prōnūntiāre “to proclaim, announce, recite, utter”; see pro- ¹, announce

Explanation

If you have a teacher who asks the class to call him "Mr. B," it's probably because his name is really hard to pronounce. When you pronounce a word, you sound it out. When you say something in a particular way, you pronounce it. The verb pronounce has another meaning, too — "to declare formally." It's not too different from announcing something, but it implies something more official and solemn — just think of the phrase "I now pronounce you husband and wife."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

pronounce pronounces pronounced pronouncing

He acknowledged that some people in the industry struggled to spell and pronounce Magrathea and have even called it Margherita.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026

Yes, the cake is meant to taste like a childhood birthday party — so sweet it makes your teeth ring and artificial, loaded with all kinds of preservatives we can’t quite pronounce.

From Salon ● Jun. 14, 2026

Whenever I tried to pronounce certain words, my vocal cords spasmed apart.

From Slate ● Apr. 18, 2026

"This chapel came up in north Wales, in a place I couldn't pronounce, which I can pronounce now... we both can."

From BBC ● Apr. 17, 2026

Dad was funny about Martí’s name, always making sure people knew how to pronounce it properly.

From "The First Rule of Punk" by Celia C. Pérez

One of his sons pronounces the name "Hit-lay", in order to escape embarrassment, and his grandchildren have taken their mothers' names.

From BBC ● Mar. 18, 2026

Now when Mr. Khamenei pronounces on critical issues, VIPs he once humbled contradict him.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 24, 2025

“My favorite daughter, so smart and brave,” he pronounces, as the ship she boards sets sail for San Francisco.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 17, 2025

Predictably, the answer is that no one on the Macrodata Refinement team has heard of . . . whatever it is he’s talking about, which he pronounces as glockSHOObin.

From Salon ● Feb. 15, 2025

But the way he pronounces it, it means the poisonwood tree.

From "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver

“Medical personnel attempted lifesaving measures, but the suspect was pronounced deceased at the scene,” the department said in a statement.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 16, 2026

Rowling pronounced them “heroines” to her tens of millions of social media followers.

From Salon ● Aug. 15, 2026

"Sadly, a 41-year-old man was pronounced dead at the scene," it added, noting his next-of-kin had been informed.

From Barron's ● Aug. 14, 2026

Nowhere is that instability more pronounced than in South Korea's tech-heavy Kospi, widely regarded as the world's most volatile stock index.

From BBC ● Aug. 13, 2026

Once the lawyer had performed all the right rituals and pronounced all the necessary spells and oaths, millions of upright French citizens behaved as if the Peugeot company really existed.

From "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari

New England is ready to absorb Scotland as its seventh state as soon as the Scots agree to stop pronouncing their r’s.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 29, 2026

Alex Beard told The Times that Chalamet's statement earlier this year pronouncing that "no-one cares" about ballet or opera anymore had produced a "fantastic" public reaction.

From BBC ● Apr. 14, 2026

The meeting was hailed as a massive success with both of them exchanging hats and autographs, and the president pronouncing his Colombian counterpart as “terrific.”

From Salon ● Feb. 5, 2026

Could his trouble pronouncing acetaminophen be a phonemic paraphasic error?

From Slate ● Jan. 26, 2026

“Oatmeal,” I said, pronouncing the word in English.

From "The Book of Unknown Americans" by Cristina Henríquez

Related Words

• assert
• deliver
• proclaim