---
title: "How to pronounce macabre | Murmur"
description: "Check macabre pronunciation with CMUdict sound tokens and stress, then practise two original sentences and download a voiceover audition worksheet."
canonical: "https://www.murmurtts.com/pronunciation/macabre"
---
[Murmur](https://www.murmurtts.com/)/[Pronunciation](https://www.murmurtts.com/pronunciation)/macabre

PRONUNCIATION / Creative work

# How to pronounce macabre

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

## The dictionary sound sequence

CMUdict lists these 2 North American English pronunciations for **macabre**. Read each sequence from left to right. The numbers mark vowel stress: **1** primary, **2** secondary, **0** unstressed.

Dictionary variant 1

`M AH0 K AA1 B R AH0`

**Syllable estimate**

3 vowel nuclei

**Primary stress**

2nd vowel position

Dictionary variant 2

`M AH0 K AA1 B ER0`

**Syllable estimate**

3 vowel nuclei

**Primary stress**

2nd vowel position

[Check macabre in Merriam-Webster and listen to available dictionary audio](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/macabre).

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 macabre in context

Macabre describes material associated with death or disturbing grimness, often in art, stories, and unusual humor. A narrator should identify the image or subject that gives the passage this quality. The intended mood may be unsettling, analytical, or darkly comic, so an automatic horror delivery can misrepresent it.

1. The exhibition includes a macabre engraving of a deserted banquet.
2. His macabre joke left the table briefly silent.

### A practice cue

Audition macabre inside your actual art description or scene, using a reference for the intended accent. Compare analytical, unsettling, and dry delivery as relevant, and choose the version that supports the specific image without adding a generic horror performance.

## Read the sound tokens

Each example word below is a cue for the named sound, rather than a respelling of macabre. Unstressed vowels may sound reduced. These cues follow the [CMU phoneme-set key (Appendix A)](https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~aria/Papers/MastersThesis.pdf#page=115).

`M`sound in **me**consonant`AH`sound in **hut**vowel`K`sound in **key**consonant`AA`sound in **odd**vowel`B`sound in **be**consonant`R`sound in **read**consonant`ER`sound in **hurt**vowel

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.

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](https://github.com/cmusphinx/cmudict/blob/74790861f652b15e4ac49015a90074ad62a27690/cmudict.dict). The dictionary maintainers acknowledge that errors and omissions can remain; check another source or a speaker when the pronunciation matters.

[CMUdict README](https://github.com/cmusphinx/cmudict/blob/74790861f652b15e4ac49015a90074ad62a27690/README) · [Included dictionary license](https://www.murmurtts.com/downloads/cmudict-license.txt)

Source version and checksum

Commit: `74790861f652b15e4ac49015a90074ad62a27690`

Dictionary SHA-256: `81917843c7f44ce2b094ac63873c2c7a4cf802040792c455ba3ca406891c3d22`

## Keep practising

[How to pronounce magnanimous](https://www.murmurtts.com/pronunciation/magnanimous)[How to pronounce melee](https://www.murmurtts.com/pronunciation/melee)[How to pronounce mischievous](https://www.murmurtts.com/pronunciation/mischievous)[How to pronounce awry](https://www.murmurtts.com/pronunciation/awry)

[Build a pronunciation test suite for local TTS](https://www.murmurtts.com/blog/pronunciation-test-suite-local-tts) · [Browse all word references](https://www.murmurtts.com/pronunciation)

MURMUR FOR MAC

## Check the word in a real voiceover.

Murmur generates speech locally on Apple Silicon Macs. Try your audition sentences with your chosen model and voice, listen for pronunciation, and review the result before exporting. A dictionary sequence does not guarantee a model’s output.

[Explore Murmur](https://www.murmurtts.com/#product)
