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Pronunciation

How to pronounce “perfunctory”

“perfunctory” is pronounced /pɚˈfʌŋktɚi/ (puh-FUNGK-tuh-ee) in American English and /pəfʌŋktəɹi/ in British English — 4 syllables, stressed on “func”.
The sound

Say “perfunctory” in 4 beats

Say it like this

perfunctory

/pɚˈfʌŋktɚi/

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

4 beats
  1. perpɚ
  2. funcfʌŋkstress
  3. tortɚ
  4. yi
IPA (American)
/pɚˈfʌŋktɚi/
IPA (British)
/pəfʌŋktəɹi/
Respelling
puh-FUNGK-tuh-ee
Syllables
4 — per-FUNC-tor-y
Stress
Stress the second syllable: per-FUNC-tor-y. “func” is longer, louder and a step higher; the other syllables fall away from it.
Part of speech
adjective
Difficulty
Legend — spelling and sound part company here
Accents

American and British are not the same here

American

/pɚˈfʌŋktɚi/

British

/pəfʌŋktəɹi/

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

Meaning

What “perfunctory” means

  1. adjective

    hasty and without attention to detail; not thorough

    “a casual (or cursory) inspection failed to reveal the house's structural flaws”

  2. adjective

    as a formality only

    “a one-candidate pro forma election”

Say it in a sentence

“He gave the windows a perfunctory wipe and left.”
Sound by sound

The sounds inside this word

8 sounds, in the order you say them
ppɚschwa×2ffʌshort uŋngkkttilong e

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

Questions

“perfunctory”, answered

How do you pronounce “perfunctory”?

“perfunctory” is pronounced /pɚˈfʌŋktɚi/ (puh-FUNGK-tuh-ee) in American English and /pəfʌŋktəɹi/ in British English — 4 syllables, stressed on “func”. Build it as per-FUNC-tor-y, then run the second syllable a little longer than the rest and let the others reduce.

How many syllables does “perfunctory” have?

4: per · func · tor · y. The beat lands on the second, “func”.

Is “perfunctory” said differently in British English?

Yes. American English says /pɚˈfʌŋktɚi/ (puh-FUNGK-tuh-ee); British English says /pəfʌŋktəɹi/. Both are correct — choose the accent you are learning and stay inside it.

What does “perfunctory” mean?

As an adjective: hasty and without attention to detail; not thorough For example: “a casual (or cursory) inspection failed to reveal the house's structural flaws” It carries 1 other sense as well — all of them said the same way.

Where is the stress in “perfunctory”?

Stress the second syllable: per-FUNC-tor-y. “func” is longer, louder and a step higher; the other syllables fall away from it.

Practise this word

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