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Pronunciation

How to pronounce “procrastinate”

“procrastinate” is pronounced /pɹəˈkɹæstəˌneɪt/ (pruh-KRA-stuh-nayt) in American English and /pɹəʊkɹastɪneɪt/ in British English — 4 syllables, stressed on “kɹæ”.
The sound

Say “procrastinate” in 4 beats

Say it like this

procrastinate

/pɹəˈkɹæstəˌneɪt/

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

4 beats
  1. pɹəpɹə
  2. kɹækɹæstress
  3. stəstə
  4. neɪtneɪt
IPA (American)
/pɹəˈkɹæstəˌneɪt/
IPA (British)
/pɹəʊkɹastɪneɪt/
Respelling
pruh-KRA-stuh-nayt
Syllables
4 — pɹə-KɹÆ-stə-neɪt
Stress
Stress the second syllable: pɹə-KɹÆ-stə-neɪt. “kɹæ” 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

/pɹəˈkɹæstəˌneɪt/

British

/pɹəʊkɹastɪneɪt/

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

Meaning

What “procrastinate” means

  1. verb

    postpone doing what one should be doing

    “He did not want to write the letter and procrastinated for days”

  2. verb

    postpone or delay needlessly

    “He procrastinated the matter until it was almost too late”

Say it in a sentence

“I procrastinate most on the tasks I care about.”
Sound by sound

The sounds inside this word

9 sounds, in the order you say them
ppɹr×2əschwa×2kkæshort asstt×2nneɪlong a

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

Questions

“procrastinate”, answered

How do you pronounce “procrastinate”?

“procrastinate” is pronounced /pɹəˈkɹæstəˌneɪt/ (pruh-KRA-stuh-nayt) in American English and /pɹəʊkɹastɪneɪt/ in British English — 4 syllables, stressed on “kɹæ”. Build it as pɹə-KɹÆ-stə-neɪt, then run the second syllable a little longer than the rest and let the others reduce.

How many syllables does “procrastinate” have?

4: pɹə · kɹæ · stə · neɪt. The beat lands on the second, “kɹæ”.

Is “procrastinate” said differently in British English?

Yes. American English says /pɹəˈkɹæstəˌneɪt/ (pruh-KRA-stuh-nayt); British English says /pɹəʊkɹastɪneɪt/. Both are correct — choose the accent you are learning and stay inside it.

What does “procrastinate” mean?

As a verb: postpone doing what one should be doing For example: “He did not want to write the letter and procrastinated for days” It carries 1 other sense as well — all of them said the same way.

Where is the stress in “procrastinate”?

Stress the second syllable: pɹə-KɹÆ-stə-neɪt. “kɹæ” is longer, louder and a step higher; the other syllables fall away from it.

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