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Pronunciation

How to pronounce “accentuate”

“accentuate” is pronounced /ækˈsɛntʃueɪt/ (ak-SEN-choo-ayt) in American English and /aksɛntʃuːeɪt/ in British English — 4 syllables, stressed on “cen”.
The sound

Say “accentuate” in 4 beats

Say it like this

accentuate

/ækˈsɛntʃueɪt/

The voice you hear here is American; the British form is /aksɛntʃuːeɪt/ (see the table below), and a British voice is available in the app's settings.

4 beats
  1. acæk
  2. censɛnstress
  3. tuattʃu
  4. eeɪt
IPA (American)
/ækˈsɛntʃueɪt/
IPA (British)
/aksɛntʃuːeɪt/
Respelling
ak-SEN-choo-ayt
Syllables
4 — ac-CEN-tuat-e
Stress
Stress the second syllable: ac-CEN-tuat-e. “cen” is longer, louder and a step higher; the other syllables fall away from it.
Part of speech
verb
Difficulty
Legend — spelling and sound part company here
Accents

American and British are not the same here

American

/ækˈsɛntʃueɪt/

British

/aksɛntʃuːeɪt/

No audio here: sayit’s voice is American, so a British button would play the American word. Read the transcription instead.

Meaning

What “accentuate” means

  1. verb

    to stress, single out as important

    “Dr. Jones emphasizes exercise in addition to a change in diet”

  2. verb

    put stress on; utter with an accent

    “In Farsi, you accent the last syllable of each word”

Say it in a sentence

“A plain grey wall will accentuate the colours in that painting.”
Sound by sound

The sounds inside this word

9 sounds, in the order you say them
æshort akkssɛshort enntʃchulong ooeɪlong att

Each sound has its own page: where the tongue goes, what it is usually confused with, and words to drill it on.

Questions

“accentuate”, answered

How do you pronounce “accentuate”?

“accentuate” is pronounced /ækˈsɛntʃueɪt/ (ak-SEN-choo-ayt) in American English and /aksɛntʃuːeɪt/ in British English — 4 syllables, stressed on “cen”. Build it as ac-CEN-tuat-e, then run the second syllable a little longer than the rest and let the others reduce.

How many syllables does “accentuate” have?

4: ac · cen · tuat · e. The beat lands on the second, “cen”.

Is “accentuate” said differently in British English?

Yes. American English says /ækˈsɛntʃueɪt/ (ak-SEN-choo-ayt); British English says /aksɛntʃuːeɪt/. Both are correct — choose the accent you are learning and stay inside it.

What does “accentuate” mean?

As a verb: to stress, single out as important For example: “Dr. Jones emphasizes exercise in addition to a change in diet” It carries 1 other sense as well — all of them said the same way.

Where is the stress in “accentuate”?

Stress the second syllable: ac-CEN-tuat-e. “cen” is longer, louder and a step higher; the other syllables fall away from it.

Practise this word

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