pronounce

present singular third person pronounces · participle present pronouncing · participle past pronounced · past pronounced

1. transitiveTo declare formally, officially or ceremoniously.

   I hereby pronounce you man and wife.

   1 more example

   Then everybody once more knelt, and soon the blessing was pronounced. The choir and the clergy trooped out slowly, […], down the nave to the western door. […] At a seemingly immense distance the surpliced group stopped to say the last prayer.

   1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter V, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC

2. transitiveTo declare authoritatively, or as a formal expert opinion.

   Lily was pronounced dead at the scene.

   4 more examples

   The doctor pronounced them legally dead.

   See there! A son is born And we pronounce him fit to fight There are blackheads on his shoulders And he pees himself in the night.

   1972, “Thick As A Brick”, Ian Anderson (lyrics), performed by Jethro Tull

   “If any pupil considers it acceptable to bring a pet into this school, let me tell you it is forbidden. Strictly forbidden!” pronounced the headmaster from the front of the class.

   2012, David Walliams [pseudonym; David Edward Williams], Ratburger, London: HarperCollins Children’s Books, →ISBN

   Paramedics attended, but he was pronounced dead at the scene.

   2020 December 16, Paul Clifton, “Investigation begins after death at Eastleigh depot”, in Rail, page 12

   1. transitiveTo pronounce dead.

      Despite resuscitative efforts, Mr. Gray was pronounced on 4/19/2015.

      2015, April 30, Carol H. Allan, David R. Fowler (medical examiners), Freddie Gray autopsy: excerpt from the report, published in The Baltimore Sun, June 24, 2015

3. intransitiveTo pass judgment.

   The judge had pronounced often before, but never in front of such a crowd.

4. transitiveTo sound out (a word or phrase); to articulate.

   They spell it "Vinci" and pronounce it "Vinchy". Foreigners always spell better than they pronounce.

   1869, Mark Twain, The Innocents Abroad, page 182

   1 more example

   I wanted to look up velleity and quotidian and memorize the fuckers for all time, spell them, learn them, pronounce them syllable by syllable—vocalize, phonate, utter the sounds, say the words for all they're worth.

   2007, Don DeLillo, Underworld: A Novel, New York, N.Y.: Scribner Classics, →ISBN, page 543

   1. transitivepassive voiceTo sound like.

      The Icelandic double l in Eyjafjallajökull is pronounced tl.

      3 more examples

      The firſt day of November was dedicated to the angel preſiding over fruits, ſeeds, &c. and was therefore named la mas ubhal, that is, the day of the apple fruit, and being pronounced lamasool, the English have corrupted the name to lambswool, a name they give to a compoſition made on this eve of roaſted apples, ſugar, and ale.

      1786, “Of Allhallow Eve, Named by the Irish Oidhche Shamhna”, in Charles Vallancey, editor, Collectanea de Rebus Hibernicis, volume III, Dublin: Luke White, pages 444-445

      The Chinese believe feng shui, pronounced fung shway, can help blunt the ill effects to health and wealth brought on, for example, by the inauspicious jut of an adjacent building or hill.

      1997 January 31, Charles Hutzler, “Leader’s office hunt a lesson in arcana and parking problems”, in AP News, archived from the original on 19 Apr 2023

      The DPRK (Joseon Minjujui Inmin Konghuaguk 朝鮮民主主義人民共和國) is read in Chinese as Chaoxian minzhu zhuyi renmin gonghe guo, and its capital, Pyeonyang, is pronounced Pingrang 平壤.

      2012, Endymion Wilkinson, “Introduction”, in Chinese History: A New Manual, 3rd revised edition, Harvard University Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 14

5. intransitiveTo produce the components of speech.

   Actors must be able to pronounce perfectly or deliberately disabled.

6. transitiveTo read aloud.
7. transitiveTo emphasize, highlight.

   The two men standing are facing with their backs towards the audience, wearing tight knitted garments that pronounce their bottoms.

   2014 November 26, Ad Standards, Case Report 0501/14

   1 more example

   Bro I've been saying this for the longest time. The problem is that this country loves gossip bro. It pronounces how shallow thinking we are and becoming a lucrative ground for narratives to fog our thinking if we don't outsource it.

   2024 July 11, @Mahlako_Mokwala, Twitter

1. pluralplural onlyEggcorn of pronouns.