Word.ws English Dictionary

vocalise

/ˈvəʊkəlaɪz/

vocalise is the non-Oxford British English standard spelling of vocalize.

Meaning of vocalize

Verb

vocalize (third-person singular simple present vocalizes, present participle vocalizing, simple past and past participle vocalized)

  1. To express with the voice, to utter.
    • Following the modern spirit, the real poems of the present, ever solidifying and expanding into the future, must vocalize the vastness and splendor and reality with which scientism has invested man and the universe,[…]1876, Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass, preface to the 1876 edition
  2. To produce noises or calls from the throat.
    • We could hear the monkeys vocalizing, though we could not see them.
  3. To sing without using words.
  4. To turn a consonant into a vowel.
    • In Hong Kong English, /l/ may be vocalized at the end of a syllable.
  5. (dated) To make a sound voiced rather than voiceless.
  6. To add vowel points to a consonantal script (e.g. niqqud in Hebrew)
    Synonyms:
    outspeak

Noun

IPA/vəʊkəˈliːz/

vocalise (plural vocalises)

  1. A vocal exercise performed by singing one or more vowels without actually forming any words.

Forms of vocalise

Verb
third-person singular presentvocalises
present participlevocalising
past participlevocalised
pastvocalised
Noun
pluralvocalises

Origin of vocalise

From vocal + -ise.

Borrowed from French.

Words formed from vocalise

Questions about vocalise

What does vocalise mean?
Vocalise means a vocal exercise performed by singing one or more vowels without actually forming any words.
What is vocalise the non-Oxford British English standard spelling of?
Vocalise is the non-Oxford British English standard spelling of vocalize.
What part of speech is vocalise?
Vocalise is a noun.
How do you pronounce vocalise?
Vocalise is pronounced /ˈvəʊkəlaɪz/.
What is the plural of vocalise?
The plural of vocalise is vocalises.

Words near vocalise in the dictionary

  1. vocalion
  2. vocalions
  3. vocalis
  4. vocalisation
  5. vocalisations
  6. vocalise
  7. vocalised
  8. vocaliser
  9. vocalisers
  10. vocalises
  11. vocalising

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: vocalise (page history and authors); vocalize (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.

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