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Pronunciation

How to pronounce “cultivate”

“cultivate” is pronounced /ˈkʌltəˌveɪt/ (KUL-tuh-vayt) in American English and /kʌltɪveɪt/ in British English — 3 syllables, stressed on “kʌl”.
The sound

Say “cultivate” in 3 beats

Say it like this

cultivate

/ˈkʌltəˌveɪt/

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

3 beats
  1. kʌlkʌlstress
  2. tətə
  3. veɪtveɪt
IPA (American)
/ˈkʌltəˌveɪt/
IPA (British)
/kʌltɪveɪt/
Respelling
KUL-tuh-vayt
Syllables
3 — KɅL-tə-veɪt
Stress
Stress the first syllable: KɅL-tə-veɪt. “kʌl” is longer, louder and a step higher; the other syllables fall away from it.
Part of speech
verb
Difficulty
Pro — the sounds are ordinary, the rhythm is where it slips
Accents

American and British are not the same here

American

/ˈkʌltəˌveɪt/

British

/kʌltɪveɪt/

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

Meaning

What “cultivate” means

  1. verb

    foster the growth of

  2. verb

    prepare for crops

    “Work the soil”

  3. verb

    teach or refine to be discriminative in taste or judgment

    “Cultivate your musical taste”

Say it in a sentence

“They cultivate beans and squash on a narrow strip of land.”
Sound by sound

The sounds inside this word

7 sounds, in the order you say them
kkʌshort ulltt×2əschwavveɪlong a

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

Questions

“cultivate”, answered

How do you pronounce “cultivate”?

“cultivate” is pronounced /ˈkʌltəˌveɪt/ (KUL-tuh-vayt) in American English and /kʌltɪveɪt/ in British English — 3 syllables, stressed on “kʌl”. Build it as KɅL-tə-veɪt, then run the first syllable a little longer than the rest and let the others reduce.

How many syllables does “cultivate” have?

3: kʌl · tə · veɪt. The beat lands on the first, “kʌl”.

Is “cultivate” said differently in British English?

Yes. American English says /ˈkʌltəˌveɪt/ (KUL-tuh-vayt); British English says /kʌltɪveɪt/. Both are correct — choose the accent you are learning and stay inside it.

What does “cultivate” mean?

As a verb: foster the growth of For example: “They cultivate beans and squash on a narrow strip of land.” It carries 2 other senses as well — all of them said the same way.

Where is the stress in “cultivate”?

Stress the first syllable: KɅL-tə-veɪt. “kʌl” is longer, louder and a step higher; the other syllables fall away from it.

Practise this word

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