HOW TO PRONOUNCE
adult
/əˈdʌlt/
Press play to hear how to pronounce adult.
American Pronunciation Guide · 1:05
Watch on YouTube ↗
Watch on YouTube ↗
LISTEN FOR THIS
uh-DULT: stress the second syllable.
In uh-DULT, begin with a light uh and put the strongest beat on dult. AD-ult, with first-syllable stress, is also an accepted two-syllable pronunciation.
2 syllables · Stress on syllable 2
TRY SAYING
“An adult accompanied the children.”
APG practice sentence · CC BY-SA 4.0
CMU Pronouncing Dictionary ↗What does adult mean?
noun
- An animal that is full-grown.
- A person who has reached the legal age of majority.
adjective
- Fully grown.
More meanings (9)
adjective
- Intended for or restricted to adults rather than children due to size, maturity, knowledge level, judgement, etc.
- Containing situations or discussions intended primarily for adults, such as serious crime, illicit drug use, extramarital affairs, etc.
- Containing alcohol, intended for consumption only by adults.
- Containing marijuana, intended for consumption only by adults.
- Containing material of an explicit sexual nature; pornographic.
- Containing excessive vulgar or profane speech, text or images, intended only for adults.
- Intended for, or restricted to, those who are not young children.
verb
- (slang) To behave like an adult.
- (rare) To (cause to) be or become an adult.
Definitions regrouped for readability · CC BY-SA 4.0
IPA pronunciation
/əˈdʌlt/
Pronunciation used in the listening tip.
CMU Pronouncing Dictionary ↗Pronunciation varies by speaker and region. About these dictionary pronunciations.
In the pages of books
See this word in context.
It was an adult, as was known by its six rows of teeth placed in an isosceles triangle in the upper jaw.
Every adult Indian, female as well as male, was bent upon invading the camp of the bois brules, to destroy the murderer.
More book examples (3)
When the speaking was done, the ayes and noes were ranged on opposite sides, and every male adult voted in his turn.
With respect to sympathetic curiosity, unbiased responsiveness, and openness of mind, we may say that the adult should be growing in childlikeness.
Thus we can understand the greater relative size of rudimentary organs in the embryo, and their lesser relative size in the adult.