How to pronounce “ostensibly”
Say “ostensibly” in 4 beats
ostensibly
/ɑˈstɛnsəbli/
The voice you hear here is American; the British form is /ɒstɛnsɪbli/ (see the table below), and a British voice is available in the app's settings.
- osɑ
- tenstɛnstress
- sibsə
- lybli
- IPA (American)
- /ɑˈstɛnsəbli/
- IPA (British)
- /ɒstɛnsɪbli/
- Respelling
- ah-STEN-suh-blee
- Syllables
- 4 — os-TEN-sib-ly
- Stress
- Stress the second syllable: os-TEN-sib-ly. “ten” is longer, louder and a step higher; the other syllables fall away from it.
- Part of speech
- adverb
- Difficulty
- Pro — the sounds are ordinary, the rhythm is where it slips
American and British are not the same here
/ɑˈstɛnsəbli/
/ɒstɛnsɪbli/
No audio here: sayit’s voice is American, so a British button would play the American word. Read the transcription instead.
What “ostensibly” means
- adverb
from appearances alone; ; ; -Thomas Hardy
“irrigation often produces bumper crops from apparently desert land”
Say it in a sentence
“He came ostensibly to return a book, and stayed for supper.”“ostensibly”, answered
How do you pronounce “ostensibly”?
“ostensibly” is pronounced /ɑˈstɛnsəbli/ (ah-STEN-suh-blee) in American English and /ɒstɛnsɪbli/ in British English — 4 syllables, stressed on “ten”. Build it as os-TEN-sib-ly, then run the second syllable a little longer than the rest and let the others reduce.
How many syllables does “ostensibly” have?
4: os · ten · sib · ly. The beat lands on the second, “ten”.
Is “ostensibly” said differently in British English?
Yes. American English says /ɑˈstɛnsəbli/ (ah-STEN-suh-blee); British English says /ɒstɛnsɪbli/. Both are correct — choose the accent you are learning and stay inside it.
What does “ostensibly” mean?
As an adverb: from appearances alone; ; ; -Thomas Hardy For example: “irrigation often produces bumper crops from apparently desert land”
Where is the stress in “ostensibly”?
Stress the second syllable: os-TEN-sib-ly. “ten” is longer, louder and a step higher; the other syllables fall away from it.
Now say “ostensibly” and see every sound
Record it once and sayit lines your audio up against the target sound by sound — what landed, what slipped, and what it sounded like instead.