Machiavellian pronunciation
Machiavellian has 6 syllables. The stress is on the fourth syllable, "veh". Capital letters in the respelling show where the stress falls.
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Machiavellian syllables
Machiavellian has 6 syllables: mah-kee-uh-VEH-lee-uhn.
- mahmɑ
- keeki
- uhə
- VEHvɛ
- leeli
- uhnən
Stress "vel": mak-ee-uh-VEL-ee-un.
Sounds to watch
The l sound
Touch the tongue tip to the ridge behind your top teeth. At the end of a syllable the l is darker and the back of the tongue rises.
The v sound
Rest your top teeth on your bottom lip and add voice. Keep it distinct from w, which uses rounded lips and no teeth.
Weak syllables
The unstressed syllables use a short, relaxed uh (schwa). Rushing through them lightly is correct; giving them a full vowel sounds unnatural.
Machiavellian in a sentence
- His Machiavellian tactics won the vote but lost him friends.
- The plot is Machiavellian, full of alliances and betrayals.
Read either sentence into the recorder above. The check judges only the target word, so the rest of the sentence can be rough.
What Speakeroo listens for
These are the pronunciation patterns from Speakeroo’s speech feature catalog that this target tends to expose. The check above reports the ones it hears.
- Stress placed on the wrong syllableMake the correct syllable longer, clearer and more prominent.
- /v/ and /w/ confusedUse teeth-on-lip contact for /v/ and rounded lips without contact for /w/.
- Final consonant omittedHold the final mouth position briefly without adding another vowel.
- Schwa not reducedRelax unstressed vowels toward a short neutral sound.
- Every syllable stressed equallyEmphasise one main syllable and reduce the others.
Questions
How do you pronounce machiavellian?
Machiavellian is pronounced /ˌmɑ.ki.ə.ˈvɛ.li.ən/, or mah-kee-uh-VEH-lee-uhn in plain letters. It has 6 syllables and the stress falls on the fourth syllable, "veh".
How many syllables are in machiavellian?
6: mah-kee-uh-VEH-lee-uhn. The capital letters mark the stressed syllable.
How do you use machiavellian in a sentence?
His Machiavellian tactics won the vote but lost him friends. The plot is Machiavellian, full of alliances and betrayals.
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