[pruh-nuhn-see-ey-shuh
n] 
| 1. | the act or result of producing the sounds of speech, including articulation, stress, and intonation, often with reference to some standard of correctness or acceptability. |
| 2. | an accepted standard of the sound and stress patterns of a syllable, word, etc.: He said the pronunciation of “curl” is [kurl] , not [koil] . |
| 3. | the conventional patterns of treatment of the sounds of a language: the pronunciation of French. |
| 4. | a phonetic transcription of a given word, sound, etc.: The pronunciation of “pheasant” is [fez-uhnt] . |
, pro⋅nun⋅ci⋅a⋅tive, adjective | pro·nun·ci·a·tion (prə-nŭn'sē-ā'shən) n.
[Middle English, from Old French prononciation, from Latin prōnūntiātiō, prōnūntiātiōn-, from prōnūntiātus, past participle of prōnūntiāre, to pronounce; see pronounce.] pro·nun'ci·a'tion·al adj. |