How to pronounce loose in American English

IPA /lus/ Syllables 1 · loos Stress 1st syllable

LOOS

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Americans pronounce loose as LOOS (/lus/).

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Sounds

75%

Clarity

68%

Stress

78%

Intonation

65%

Fluency

62%

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In real conversation

Hear "loose" in the wild.

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"He pulled a loose tooth this afternoon."

hee PUULD uh LOOS TOOTH dhihs af·ter·NOON

"Move the loose tool to the new room soon."

MOOV dhuh LOOS TOOL tuh dhuh noo ROOM SOON

"Her new shoes were too loose to use."

her noo SHOOZ wer TOO LOOS tuh YOOZ

Questions

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Is the American pronunciation of "loose" 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 "LOOS" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.

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