pronounce

UK/pɹəˈnaʊns/

pronounce verb: to declare formally, officially or ceremoniously.

Verb

pronounce (third-person singular simple present pronounces, present participle pronouncing, simple past and past participle pronounced)

(transitive) To declare formally, officially or ceremoniously.
- 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
- I hereby pronounce you man and wife.
(transitive) To declare authoritatively, or as a formal expert opinion.
- The doctor pronounced them legally dead.
- Lily was pronounced dead at the scene.
1. (transitive) To 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
(intransitive) To pass judgment.
- The judge had pronounced often before, but never in front of such a crowd.
(transitive) To 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
- 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. (transitive, passive voice) To sound like.
  - The Icelandic double l in Eyjafjallajökull is pronounced tl.
  - 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...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
(intransitive) To produce the components of speech.
- Actors must be able to pronounce perfectly or deliberately disabled.
(transitive) To read aloud.
(transitive) To 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
- 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

Noun

pronounce pl (plural only)

(plural, plural-only) Eggcorn of pronouns.

pronounce meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

pronounce in Hindi

to sound out (a word or phrase); to articulate: सुनाना sunānā, उच्चारण करना uccāraṇ karnā

pronounce in Marathi

to pronounce, say, utter: उच्चारणे uccārṇe

pronounce in Urdu

to sound out (a word or phrase); to articulate: تَلَفُّظ کَرْنا talaffuz karnā

More languagesFewer languages

pronounce in Bengali: উচ্চারণ করা uccaron kora
pronounce in Telugu: ఉచ్ఛరించండి, ఉచ్చరించండి, ఉచ్ఛరించు
pronounce in Malayalam: ഉച്ചരിക്കുക uccarikkuka
pronounce in Kannada: ಉಚ್ಚರಿಸು, ನುಡಿ, ಉಂಟುಮಾಡು, ತೊಳಲು
pronounce in Punjabi: ਉਚਾਰਨ ਕਰੋ
pronounce in Gujarati: ઉચ્ચાર કરો, ઉચ્ચારણ કરો
pronounce in Odia: ଉଚ୍ଚାରଣ କରନ୍ତୁ, ଉଚ୍ଚାରଣ କର, ଉଚ୍ଚାର କରନ୍ତୁ
pronounce in Sanskrit: गृणाति gṛṇā́ti
pronounce in Sinhala: කරනවා
pronounce in Assamese: মাতা mata, মতা mota
pronounce in Arabic: لَفَظَ lafaẓa, نَطَقَ naṭaqa
pronounce in Thai: ออกเสียง ɔ̀ɔk-sǐiang
pronounce in Vietnamese: phát âm
pronounce in Myanmar: ပြောဆိုသည် prau:hcuisany

Examples of pronounce in a sentence

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:
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...
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...

All 40 example sentences with pronounce

Forms of pronounce

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

Past tense of pronounce: pronounced

Origin of pronounce

Recorded since c.1330 as Middle English pronouncen (“to utter, declare officially”), from Old French prononcier, from Latin prōnūntiō, itself from prō- (“forth, out, in public”) + nūntiō (“to announce”) from nūntius (“messenger”).

Words formed from pronounce

Words that rhyme with pronounce

2 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about pronounce

What does pronounce mean?: Pronounce means to declare formally, officially or ceremoniously.
What is pronounce in Hindi?: Pronounce in Hindi is सुनाना (sunānā), उच्चारण करना (uccāraṇ karnā). See Pronounce meaning in Hindi.
How do you use pronounce in a sentence?: Strictly forbidden!” pronounced the headmaster from the front of the class.
What part of speech is pronounce?: Pronounce can be a verb or a noun.
How do you pronounce pronounce?: Pronounce is pronounced /pɹəˈnaʊns/ (UK).
What is the past tense of pronounce?: The past tense of pronounce is pronounced.

Words near pronounce in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: pronounce (page history and authors); pronounce (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); उच्चारणे (Marathi) (page history and authors); pronounce (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ഉച്ചരിക്കുക (Malayalam) (page history and authors); pronounce (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); pronounce (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); pronounce (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); pronounce (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); गृणाति (Sanskrit) (page history and authors); pronounce (Sinhala Wiktionary) (page history and authors); মতা (Assamese) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-pronounce.ogg.

Cite this entry: “pronounce.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/pronounce. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.