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HOW TO PRONOUNCE

variable

/ˈvɛɹiəbəl/

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American Pronunciation Guide · 0:47
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Keep the first syllable strongest.

In the four-syllable pronunciation VAIR-ee-uh-buhl, the vowels after r occupy separate syllables. Move gently through them before the light final syllable ending in l.

4 syllables · Stress on syllable 1

TRY SAYING
The program stores the result in a variable.

APG practice sentence · CC BY-SA 4.0

CMU Pronouncing Dictionary

What does variable mean?

adjective

  1. Able to vary or be varied.
  2. Likely to vary.
  3. Marked by diversity or difference.
More meanings (10)

adjective

  1. Having no fixed quantitative value.
  2. Tending to deviate from a normal or recognized type.

noun

  1. Something that is variable.
  2. Something whose value may be dictated or discovered.
  3. A quantity that may assume any one of a set of values.
  4. A symbol representing a variable.
  5. A named memory location in which a program can store intermediate results and from which it can read them.
  6. A variable star.
  7. A shifting wind, or one that varies in force.
  8. Those parts of the sea where a steady wind is not expected, especially the parts between the trade-wind belts.

Definitions regrouped for readability · CC BY-SA 4.0

IPA pronunciation

/ˈvɛɹiəbəl/

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.

I never heard a passion so confus’d, So strange, outrageous, and so variable As the dog Jew did utter in the streets.
William ShakespeareThe Complete Works of William ShakespeareProject Gutenberg ebook #100
The radial spines are somewhat variable in relative length, often becoming almost equal, while sometimes the upper radials are very much reduced.
John Merle CoulterA Preliminary Revision of the North American Species of Cactus, Anhalonium, and LophophoraProject Gutenberg ebook #1221
More book examples (3)
If, then, these two varieties be variable, the most divergent of their variations will generally be preserved during the next thousand generations.
Charles DarwinOn the Origin of Species By Means of Natural Selection Or, the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for LifeProject Gutenberg ebook #1228
The area occupied by the spokes is very irregular, being marked out by the supports of the branch, which are infinitely variable.
Jean-Henri FabreThe Life of the SpiderTranslated by Alexander Teixeira de MattosProject Gutenberg ebook #1887
Now, submarine signalling has none of these defects, for the medium is water, subject to no such variable conditions as the air.
Lawrence BeesleyThe Loss of the S. S. Titanic: Its Story and Its LessonsProject Gutenberg ebook #6675