p/p/
Press your lips together to stop the air, then release. No vocal cord vibration.
How to pronounce procedures in American English
pruh·SEE·jerz
Start here
Americans pronounce procedures as pruh-SEE-jerz (/prəˈsiʤərz/). Stress falls on the second syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "The officer testified about the arrest procedures in court" or "The incident investigation revealed that proper procedures were not followed" — more examples below.
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "procedures".
3 syllables, 8 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
r/r/
Curl or bunch your tongue without letting the tip touch the roof of your mouth. Brace the sides of your tongue against your upper back teeth, and round your lips slightly.
uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
s/s/
Place your tongue tip near the roof of your mouth behind your top teeth. Push air through the narrow gap. No voicing.
ee/i/
Pull the corners of your lips back slightly. Arch the middle-front of your tongue high toward the roof of the mouth.
j/dʒ/
Touch the front of your tongue to the roof of your mouth, then release into a 'zh' position. Add vocal cord vibration.
er/ər/
Relax your mouth and lift the tongue back and up. Keep the lips neutral.
z/z/
Same position as S, but add vocal cord vibration. Feel the buzz.
In real conversation
Hear "procedures" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"The incident investigation revealed that proper procedures were not followed."
dhee IHN·suh·duhnt uhn·veh·stuh·GAY·shuhn ruh·VEELD dhuht PRAH·per pruh·SEE·jerz wer NAHT FAH·lohd
"The officer testified about the arrest procedures in court."
dhee AH·fuh·ser TEH·stuh·fahyd uh·BOWT dhee uh·REHST pruh·SEE·jerz ihn KORT
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Watch out
Common pronunciation mistakes in American English.
The textbook way isn't wrong — it's just not how anyone actually says it.
01
Stressing the wrong syllable.
Stress falls on the second syllable, not the others. Stretch SEE — keep everything else short and quick.
PRUH·see·JERZ→pruh·SEE·jerz
02
Pronouncing the first syllable too fully.
Don't pronounce the first syllable too fully. The unstressed syllable reduces to a schwa — the lazy "uh" sound — in casual speech.
PRUH·SEE·jerz→pruh·SEE·jerz
03
Pronouncing the "R" too clearly.
Americans use a relaxed retroflex R — the tongue curls back rather than rolling. The R is one continuous sound with the vowel before it, not two separate sounds.
… (no R)→… r (curl the tongue)
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "procedures" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the second syllable — say "SEE" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "pruh-SEE-jerz" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Why does the first syllable in "procedures" reduce to "uh"?
Unstressed syllables in American English collapse toward a schwa — a lazy, neutral "uh" sound. The full vowel is what textbooks teach, but in actual American speech every unstressed vowel reduces. The respell "pruh-SEE-jerz" shows the reduced form so you can hear the casual rhythm directly.
How do I pronounce the R in "procedures"?
Americans use a relaxed retroflex R: the tongue curls back rather than rolling, and the R is one continuous sound with the vowel before it — not two separate sounds. Don't try to pronounce a separate vowel followed by a separate R. Treat them as a single shape.
Is the American pronunciation of "procedures" 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 "pruh-SEE-jerz" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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