Pronunciation

How to pronounce “summarise

“summarise” is pronounced /ˈsʌməˌɹaɪz/ (SUM-uh-ryze) in American English and /ˈsʌməɹaɪz/ in British English — 3 syllables, stressed on “sʌ”.
The sound

Say “summarise” in 3 beats

Say it like this

summarise

/ˈsʌməˌɹaɪz/

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

3 beats
  1. stress
  2. ɹaɪzɹaɪz
IPA (American)
/ˈsʌməˌɹaɪz/
IPA (British)
/ˈsʌməɹaɪz/
Respelling
SUM-uh-ryze
Syllables
3 — SɅ-mə-ɹaɪz
Stress
Stress the first syllable: SɅ-mə-ɹaɪz. “sʌ” 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

/ˈsʌməˌɹaɪz/

British

/ˈsʌməɹaɪz/

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

Watch out

Where “summarise” goes wrong

  • Often heard

    suh-MAR-yze

    the stress is on SUM, the first syllable

Meaning

What “summarise” means

  1. verb

    be a summary of

    The abstract summarizes the main ideas in the paper

  2. verb

    give a summary (of)

    he summed up his results

Say it in a sentence

Could you summarise the meeting in three sentences?
Sound by sound

The sounds inside this word

7 sounds, in the order you say them

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

Questions

summarise”, answered

How do you pronounce “summarise”?

“summarise” is pronounced /ˈsʌməˌɹaɪz/ (SUM-uh-ryze) in American English and /ˈsʌməɹaɪz/ in British English — 3 syllables, stressed on “sʌ”. Build it as SɅ-mə-ɹaɪz, then run the first syllable a little longer than the rest and let the others reduce.

How many syllables does “summarise” have?

3: sʌ · mə · ɹaɪz. The beat lands on the first, “sʌ”.

Is “summarise” said differently in British English?

Yes. American English says /ˈsʌməˌɹaɪz/ (SUM-uh-ryze); British English says /ˈsʌməɹaɪz/. Both are correct — choose the accent you are learning and stay inside it.

What does “summarise” mean?

As a verb: be a summary of For example: “The abstract summarizes the main ideas in the paper” It carries 1 other sense as well — all of them said the same way.

Where is the stress in “summarise”?

Stress the first syllable: SɅ-mə-ɹaɪz. “sʌ” is longer, louder and a step higher; the other syllables fall away from it.

Practise this word

Now say “summarise” and see every sound

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