How to pronounce dense in American English

IPA /dɛns/ Syllables 1 · dehns Stress 1st syllable

DEHNS

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Americans pronounce dense as DEHNS (/dɛns/).

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Sounds

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Clarity

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Stress

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Intonation

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Fluency

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"He navigated through the dense fog using a compass."

hee NA·vuh·gay·duhd throo dhuh DEHNS FAHG YOO·zuhng uh KUHM·puhs

"The forest is dense with tall pine trees and ferns."

dhuh FOR·uhst ihz DEHNS wihth TAHL PAHYN TREEZ and FURNZ

Questions

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Is the American pronunciation of "dense" different from British English?

American English uses different vowel shapes, a relaxed retroflex R, and connected-speech tricks like flap-T and glottal-stop T that British Received Pronunciation generally avoids. The respell "DEHNS" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.

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