Explanatory Notes Pronunciation

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Pronunciation is indicated between a pair of reversed virgules \\ following the entry word.

SYLLABLES
A hyphen is used in the pronunciation to show syllabic division. These hyphens sometimes coincide with the centered dots in the entry word that indicate end-of-line division; sometimes they do not:
dis·cov·er \dis-'kev-er\
¹ met·ric \'me-trik\

STRESS
A high-set mark \'\ indicates primary (strongest) stress or accent; a low-set mark \,\ indicates secondary (medium) stress or accent:
¹ rough·neck \'ref-,nek \
The stress mark stands at the beginning of the syllable that receives the stress.

In some cases the pronunciation of a word or compound shows no primary stress. One such class of words includes those that occur in main entries only as elements of an open compound. The stress shown for these words is the usual stress in the compound and may be less than primary:
clum·ber spaniel \,klem-er-\
In other contexts the word may have primary stress, as in ``Is that spaniel a clumber?''

VARIANT PRONUNCIATIONS
The presence of variant pronunciations indicates that not all educated speakers pronounce words the same way. A second- place variant is not to be regarded as less acceptable than the pronunciation that is given first. It may, in fact, be used by as many educated speakers as the first variant, but the requirements of the printed page are such that one must precede the other:
for·eign \'fo«r-en, 'fa»r-\
A variant that is appreciably less common than the preceding variant is preceded by the word  also :
col·league \'ka»l-,e¼g  also -ig\
A variant preceded by  sometimes is infrequent, though it does occur in educated speech:
in·vei·gle \in-'va¼-gel  sometimes -'ve¼-\
Sometimes a regional label precedes a variant:
¹great \'gra¼t, Southern also 'gre(e)t\
The symbol \›\ is placed before a pronunciation variant that occurs in educated speech but that is considered by some to be unacceptable:
cu·po·la \'kyu»-pe-le, ›-, lo¼\
This symbol refers only to the immediately following variant and not to subsequent variants separated from it by a comma or a semicolon.

PARENTHESES IN PRONUNCIATIONS
Symbols enclosed by parentheses represent elements that are present in the pronunciation of some speakers but are absent from the pronunciation of other speakers, elements that are present in some but absent from other utterances of the same speaker, or elements whose presence or absence is uncertain:
hap·pen ...  vi ...  hap·pen·ing \'hap-(e-)nn\
sat·is·fac·to·ry \,sat-es-'fak-t(e-)re¼\
re·sponse \ri-'spa»n(t)s\
Thus, the parentheses at  happening mean that there are some who pronounce the \e\ between \p\ and \n\ and others who do not pronounce it.

PARTIAL AND ABSENT PRONUNCIATIONS
When a main entry has less than a full pronunciation, the missing part is to be supplied from a pronunciation in a preceding entry or within the same pair of reversed virgules:
cham·pi·on·ship \-,ship\
Ma·dei·ra \me-'dir-e; -'der-\
The pronunciation of the first three syllables of  championship is found at the main entry  champion :
¹ cham·pi·on \'cham-pe¼-en\
The hyphens before and after \'der\ in the pronunciation of  Madeira indicate that both the first and the last parts of the pronunciation are to be taken from the immediately preceding pronunciation.

Partial pronunciations are usually shown when two or more variants have a part in common. When a variation of stress is involved, a  partial pronunciation may be terminated at the stress mark which stands at the beginning of a syllable not shown:
di·verse \di¼-'vers, de-', 'di¼-,\
an·cho·vy \'an-,cho¼-ve¼, an-'\
In general, no pronunciation is indicated for open compounds consisting of two or more English words that have own-place entry:
kangaroo court  n
A pronunciation is shown, however, for any element of an open compound that does not have entry at its own alphabetical place:
con·ger eel \,ka»n-ger-\
sieve of Er·a·tos·the·nes \-,er-e-'ta»s-e-,ne¼z\
Only the first entry in a sequence of numbered homographs is given a pronunciation if their pronunciations are the same:
¹ re·ward \ri-'wo«(e)rd\
² reward
Pronunciations are shown for obsolete words only if they occur in Shakespeare:
clois·tress \'klo«i-stres\  n, obs
The pronunciation of unpronounced derivatives and compounds run on at a main entry is a combination of the pronunciation at the main entry and the pronunciation of the suffix or final element as given at its alphabetical place in the vocabulary:
-   shot in the dark
Thus, the pronunciation of  ovalness is the sum of the pronunciations given at  oval and  -ness ; that of  shot in the dark, the sum of the pronunciation of the four elements that make up the phrase.