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Webster 1913 Edition


Pronounce

Pro-nounce′

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Pronounced
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Pronounging
.]
[F.
prononcer
, L.
pronunciare
;
pro
before, forth +
nunciare
,
nuntiare
, to announce. See
Announce
.]
1.
To utter articulately; to speak out or distinctly; to utter, as words or syllables; to speak with the proper sound and accent
as, adults rarely learn to
pronounce
a foreign language correctly
.
2.
To utter officially or solemnly; to deliver, as a decree or sentence;
as, to
pronounce
sentence of death
.
Sternly he
pronounced

The rigid interdiction.
Milton.
3.
To speak or utter rhetorically; to deliver; to recite;
as, to
pronounce
an oration
.
Speak the speech, I pray you, as I
pronounced
it to you.
Shakespeare
4.
To declare or affirm;
as, he
pronounced
the book to be a libel; he
pronounced
the act to be a fraud.
The God who hallowed thee and blessed,
Pronouncing
thee all good.
Keble.
Syn. – To deliver; utter; speak. See
Deliver
.

Pro-nounce′

,
Verb.
I.
1.
To give a pronunciation; to articulate;
as, to
pronounce
faultlessly
.
Earle.
2.
To make declaration; to utter on opinion; to speak with confidence.
[R.]
Dr. H. More.

Pro-nounce′

,
Noun.
Pronouncement; declaration; pronunciation.
[Obs.]
Milton.

Webster 1828 Edition


Pronounce

PRONOUNCE

,
Verb.
T.
pronouns'. [L. pronuncio; pro and nuncio.]
1.
To speak; to utter articulately. The child is not able to pronounce words composed of difficult combinations of letters. Adults rarely learn to pronounce correctly a foreign language.
2.
To utter formally, officially or solemnly. The court pronounced sentence of death on the criminal.
Then Baruch answered them, he pronounced all these words to me with his mouth. Jer.36.
Sternly he pronounc'd
The rigid interdiction.
3.
To speak or utter rhetorically; to deliver; as, to pronounce an oration.
4.
To speak; to utter, in almost any manner.
5.
To declare or affirm. He pronounced the book to be a libel; he pronounced the act to be a fraud.

PRONOUNCE

,
Verb.
I.
pronouns'. To speak; to make declaration; to utter an opinion.
How confidently so ever men pronounce of themselves--

Definition 2024


pronounce

pronounce

English

Verb

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

  1. (transitive) To formally declare, officially or ceremoniously.
    • 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 5, in The Mirror and the Lamp:
      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.
    I hereby pronounce you man and wife.
  2. (intransitive) To pass judgment.
    The judge pronounced often before, but never so widely press-attended.
  3. (transitive) To sound out (a word or phrase); to articulate.
    • 1869, Mark Twain, The Innocents Abroad, page 182:
      They spell it "Vinci" and pronounce it "Vinchy". Foreigners always spell better than they pronounce.
    • 2007, Don DeLillo, Underworld: A Novel, New York, N.Y.: Scribner Classics, ISBN 978-1-4165-9585-4, page 543:
      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.
  4. (intransitive) To produce the components of speech.
    Actors must be able to pronounce perfectly or deliberately disabled.
  5. (transitive) To declare authoritatively, or as a formal expert opinion.
    The doctor pronounced them legally dead.
    1. (transitive) To pronounce dead.
      • 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
        Despite resuscitative efforts, Mr. Gray was pronounced on 4/19/2015.
  6. (transitive) To read aloud.

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