HOW TO PRONOUNCE
efficient
/ɪˈfɪʃənt/
Press play to hear how to pronounce efficient.
American Pronunciation Guide · 0:47
Watch on YouTube ↗
Watch on YouTube ↗
LISTEN FOR THIS
Stress “fi” and listen for “sh.”
Use three syllables and a light first vowel. Use the short i of sit on the middle beat, followed by sh and a lighter final vowel before nt.
3 syllables · Stress on syllable 2
TRY SAYING
“The new system is efficient.”
APG practice sentence · CC BY-SA 4.0
CMU Pronouncing Dictionary ↗What does efficient mean?
adjective
- Making good, thorough, or careful use of resources; not consuming extra. Especially, making good use of time or energy.
- Expressing the proportion of consumed energy that was successfully used in a process; the ratio of useful output to total input.
- Causing effects, producing results; bringing into being; initiating change (rare except in philosophical and legal expression efficient cause = causative factor or agent).
More meanings (2)
adjective
- effective, efficacious
noun
- (obsolete) A cause; something that causes an effect.
Definitions regrouped for readability · CC BY-SA 4.0
IPA pronunciation
/ɪˈfɪʃənt/
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.
Public opinion in such a quarter, the reader will see, is not likely to very efficient in protecting the slave from cruelty.
The laws and manners of the Anglo-Americans are therefore that efficient cause of their greatness which is the object of my inquiry.
More book examples (3)
What occurred was a reorganization of prior intellectual habitudes, infinitely more efficient than a cutting loose from all connections would have been.
Such as can be had is either water or coal gas, neither of which is as efficient in lifting power as hydrogen.
In five months he had so far recovered as to be put on duty again, and he served as an efficient soldier.