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syllable
[ sil-uh-buhl ]
noun
- an uninterrupted segment of speech consisting of a vowel sound, a diphthong, or a syllabic consonant, with or without preceding or following consonant sounds:
“Eye,” “sty,” “act,” and “should” are English words of one syllable. “Eyelet,” “stifle,” “enact,” and “shouldn't” are two-syllable words.
- one or more written letters or characters representing more or less exactly such an element of speech.
- the slightest portion or amount of speech or writing; the least mention:
Do not breathe a syllable of all this.
verb (used with object)
- to utter in syllables; articulate.
- to represent by syllables.
verb (used without object)
- to utter syllables; speak.
syllable
/ ˈsɪləbəl /
noun
- (in the writing systems of certain languages, esp ancient ones) a symbol or set of symbols standing for a syllable
- the least mention in speech or print
don't breathe a syllable of it
- in words of one syllablesimply; bluntly
verb
- to pronounce syllables of (a text); articulate
- tr to write down in syllables
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Grammar Note
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Other Words From
- half-sylla·bled adjective
- un·sylla·bled adjective
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Word History and Origins
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Word History and Origins
Origin of syllable1
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Idioms and Phrases
see words of one syllable .Discover More
Example Sentences
The extending out of one syllable is a great songwriting device.
The tone of this syllable swooped up briefly, and then down.
Forty thousand people were on their feet singing his name in a two-syllable mantra.
At the first syllable Obama uttered in its favor, the Republicans practically to a person would oppose it.
Things that sound almost like words but are just a syllable or two off.
Allcraft winced, as every syllable made known the speaker's actual strength—his own dependence and utter weakness.
He placed the paper on the table, and, ere he read a syllable, he laboured to compose himself.
He spoke with an animation and earnestness that gave an exaggerated importance to every syllable he uttered.
In some English schools the first syllable in “panis” sounds “pan,” in others “pain.”
David had replied, in that short tone of self-sufficiency which conveys so much more than the syllable would seem to warrant.
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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