PRONUNCIATION / Everyday language

How to pronounce debris

Check debris pronunciation with CMUdict sound tokens and stress, then practise two original sentences and download a voiceover audition worksheet.

The dictionary sound sequence

CMUdict lists this North American English pronunciation for debris. Read each sequence from left to right. The numbers mark vowel stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

Dictionary variant 1

D AH0 B R IY1

Syllable estimate: 2 vowel nuclei
Primary stress: 2nd vowel position

Check debris in Merriam-Webster and listen to available dictionary audio.

Syllable counts come from vowel tokens; CMUdict does not supply syllable boundaries here. Variant order follows the dictionary and does not rank correctness. This lexicon does not represent every accent or context.

Use debris in context

Debris refers to scattered fragments or material left after damage, construction, or another disturbance. Reports and scene descriptions should name the material when that information matters. Narration needs to balance clear physical detail with the seriousness of the situation, especially when people or recovery efforts are involved.

Workers cleared the debris from the footpath before reopening it.
Small pieces of debris floated against the harbor wall.

Read the sound tokens

Each example word below is a cue for the named sound, rather than a respelling of debris. Unstressed vowels may sound reduced. These cues follow the CMU phoneme-set key (Appendix A).

Dsound in deeconsonant

AHsound in hutvowel

Bsound in beconsonant

Rsound in readconsonant

IYsound in eatvowel

TAKE IT TO YOUR NEXT RECORDING

Make an audition worksheet

Select a dictionary variant for your checklist. The two original sentences retain their normal spelling; this worksheet helps you review a recording rather than forcing a speech engine to use phonemes.

Worksheet pronunciation variant

Your plain-text audition worksheet

How to pronounce debris

Word: debris
Dictionary variant: 1 of 1
CMUdict ARPABET: D AH0 B R IY1
Vowel nuclei / estimated syllables: 2
Primary stress: 2nd vowel position

ORIGINAL AUDITION SCRIPT
Workers cleared the debris from the footpath before reopening it.
Small pieces of debris floated against the harbor wall.

REVIEW CHECKLIST
[ ] Read both sentences naturally; keep the source wording.
[ ] Compare the intended pronunciation with the selected dictionary variant.
[ ] Listen for vowel sounds, consonants, and word stress in context.
[ ] Check with a speaker or another dictionary when accent or meaning matters.
[ ] Generate and listen to a short Murmur sample before exporting the full script.

Practice note: Audition debris with the cleanup action and any description of its material. Check the word against your chosen reference, then listen for a measured pace that makes the scene understandable without giving an ordinary maintenance report an unnecessarily catastrophic tone.

CMUdict is a North American English lexicon, not a recording or a complete accent guide.
Variant order is dictionary order; it is not a ranking of correctness.
Source: https://github.com/cmusphinx/cmudict/blob/74790861f652b15e4ac49015a90074ad62a27690/cmudict.dict
Source commit: 74790861f652b15e4ac49015a90074ad62a27690
License: https://www.murmurtts.com/downloads/cmudict-license.txt
Reference: https://www.murmurtts.com/pronunciation/debris

Copying and downloading happen in your browser. No script upload or audio generation is needed.

Dictionary source

The phonemes on this page come from CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. The dictionary maintainers acknowledge that errors and omissions can remain; check another source or a speaker when the pronunciation matters.

CMUdict README · Included dictionary license

Source version and checksum

Commit: 74790861f652b15e4ac49015a90074ad62a27690

Dictionary SHA-256: 81917843c7f44ce2b094ac63873c2c7a4cf802040792c455ba3ca406891c3d22

Build a pronunciation test suite for local TTS · Browse all word references