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Pronunciation

How to pronounce “embellish”

“embellish” is pronounced /ɪmˈbɛlɪʃ/ (im-BE-lish) in American English and /ɛmbɛlɪʃ/ in British English — 3 syllables, stressed on “bel”.
The sound

Say “embellish” in 3 beats

Say it like this

embellish

/ɪmˈbɛlɪʃ/

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

3 beats
  1. emɪm
  2. belbɛstress
  3. lishlɪʃ
IPA (American)
/ɪmˈbɛlɪʃ/
IPA (British)
/ɛmbɛlɪʃ/
Respelling
im-BE-lish
Syllables
3 — em-BEL-lish
Stress
Stress the second syllable: em-BEL-lish. “bel” 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

/ɪmˈbɛlɪʃ/

British

/ɛmbɛlɪʃ/

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

Meaning

What “embellish” means

  1. verb

    add details to

  2. verb

    be beautiful to look at

    “Flowers adorned the tables everywhere”

  3. verb

    make more attractive by adding ornament, colour, etc.

    “Decorate the room for the party”

Say it in a sentence

“He does embellish the story a little more each year.”
Sound by sound

The sounds inside this word

6 sounds, in the order you say them
ɪshort i×2mmbbɛshort ellʃsh

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

Questions

“embellish”, answered

How do you pronounce “embellish”?

“embellish” is pronounced /ɪmˈbɛlɪʃ/ (im-BE-lish) in American English and /ɛmbɛlɪʃ/ in British English — 3 syllables, stressed on “bel”. Build it as em-BEL-lish, then run the second syllable a little longer than the rest and let the others reduce.

How many syllables does “embellish” have?

3: em · bel · lish. The beat lands on the second, “bel”.

Is “embellish” said differently in British English?

Yes. American English says /ɪmˈbɛlɪʃ/ (im-BE-lish); British English says /ɛmbɛlɪʃ/. Both are correct — choose the accent you are learning and stay inside it.

What does “embellish” mean?

As a verb: add details to For example: “He does embellish the story a little more each year.” It carries 2 other senses as well — all of them said the same way.

Where is the stress in “embellish”?

Stress the second syllable: em-BEL-lish. “bel” is longer, louder and a step higher; the other syllables fall away from it.

Practise this word

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