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Pronunciation

How to pronounce “proliferate”

“proliferate” is pronounced /pɹoʊˈlɪfɚˌeɪt/ (proh-LI-fuh-ayt) in American English and /pɹəlɪfəɹeɪt/ in British English — 4 syllables, stressed on “lɪ”.
The sound

Say “proliferate” in 4 beats

Say it like this

proliferate

/pɹoʊˈlɪfɚˌeɪt/

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

4 beats
  1. pɹoʊpɹoʊ
  2. lɪlɪstress
  3. fɚfɚ
  4. eɪteɪt
IPA (American)
/pɹoʊˈlɪfɚˌeɪt/
IPA (British)
/pɹəlɪfəɹeɪt/
Respelling
proh-LI-fuh-ayt
Syllables
4 — pɹoʊ-LꞮ-fɚ-eɪt
Stress
Stress the second syllable: pɹoʊ-LꞮ-fɚ-eɪt. “lɪ” 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

/pɹoʊˈlɪfɚˌeɪt/

British

/pɹəlɪfəɹeɪt/

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

Meaning

What “proliferate” means

  1. verb

    grow rapidly

    “Pizza parlors proliferate in this area”

  2. verb

    cause to grow or increase rapidly

    “We must not proliferate nuclear arms”

Say it in a sentence

“Brambles proliferate wherever the hedge is left uncut.”
Sound by sound

The sounds inside this word

9 sounds, in the order you say them
ppɹroʊlong ollɪshort iffɚschwaeɪlong att

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

Questions

“proliferate”, answered

How do you pronounce “proliferate”?

“proliferate” is pronounced /pɹoʊˈlɪfɚˌeɪt/ (proh-LI-fuh-ayt) in American English and /pɹəlɪfəɹeɪt/ in British English — 4 syllables, stressed on “lɪ”. Build it as pɹoʊ-LꞮ-fɚ-eɪt, then run the second syllable a little longer than the rest and let the others reduce.

How many syllables does “proliferate” have?

4: pɹoʊ · lɪ · fɚ · eɪt. The beat lands on the second, “lɪ”.

Is “proliferate” said differently in British English?

Yes. American English says /pɹoʊˈlɪfɚˌeɪt/ (proh-LI-fuh-ayt); British English says /pɹəlɪfəɹeɪt/. Both are correct — choose the accent you are learning and stay inside it.

What does “proliferate” mean?

As a verb: grow rapidly For example: “Pizza parlors proliferate in this area” It carries 1 other sense as well — all of them said the same way.

Where is the stress in “proliferate”?

Stress the second syllable: pɹoʊ-LꞮ-fɚ-eɪt. “lɪ” is longer, louder and a step higher; the other syllables fall away from it.

Practise this word

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