Pronunciation · Creative work

How to pronounce denouement

Denouement is day-noo-MAHN in CMUdict (D EY2 N UW2 M AA1 N), with the stress on the last syllable and no final t.

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The dictionary sound sequence

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

Dictionary variant 1

D EY2 N UW2 M AA1 N

Syllable estimate: 3 vowel nuclei
Primary stress: 3rd vowel position
Secondary stress: 1st and 2nd vowel positions

Check denouement 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 denouement in context

Denouement is the final part of a story, where the loose ends are tied up, and it comes up in writing classes, film criticism and book clubs. The spelling looks impossible, so readers guess wildly. The word comes from the French for untying. CMUdict gives three syllables, ending in a nasal "mahn" with no t.

The denouement wraps up every subplot in ten minutes.
Critics praised the quiet denouement of the novel.

Read the sound tokens

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

Dsound in deeconsonant

EYsound in atevowel

Nsound in kneeconsonant

UWsound in twovowel

Msound in meconsonant

AAsound in oddvowel

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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.

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Your plain-text audition worksheet

How to pronounce denouement

Word: denouement
Dictionary variant: 1 of 1
CMUdict ARPABET: D EY2 N UW2 M AA1 N
Vowel nuclei / estimated syllables: 3
Primary stress: 3rd vowel position

ORIGINAL AUDITION SCRIPT
The denouement wraps up every subplot in ten minutes.
Critics praised the quiet denouement of the novel.

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.
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Practice note: Split it into day, noo and MAHN. Put the weight on the last beat. Stop after the n, with no t.

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/denouement

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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.

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Source version and checksum

Commit: 74790861f652b15e4ac49015a90074ad62a27690

Dictionary SHA-256: 81917843c7f44ce2b094ac63873c2c7a4cf802040792c455ba3ca406891c3d22

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