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.
How to pronounce review in American English
ruh·VYOO
Start here
Americans pronounce review as ruh-VYOO (/rəˈvju/). Stress falls on the second syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "Use your view to review the value" or "The movie review was surprisingly good" — more examples below.
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "review".
2 syllables, 4 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
v/v/
Lift your bottom lip so its inner edge (where the wet part meets the dry part) touches the very bottom of your top front teeth. Add vocal cord vibration as you blow air through.
yoo/ju/
Start with the tongue mid-front raised high, almost touching the roof of the mouth (but not touching). Glide into a tight lip circle as the tongue back lifts.
In real conversation
Hear "review" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"He is conducting a literature review to understand the current state of the field."
hee ihz kuhn·DUHK·tuhng uh LIH·duh·ruh·chur ree·VYOO tuh uhn·der·STAND dhuh KUR·uhnt STAYT uhv dhuh FEELD
"He submitted the rough draft for peer review before finalizing."
hee suhb·MIH·duhd dhuh RUHF DRAFT fer PEER ree·VYOO buh·FOR FAHY·nuh·lahy·zuhng
"He wrote a negative review about the movie's confusing plot."
hee ROHT uh NEH·guh·tuhv ruh·VYOO uh·BOWT dhuh MOO·veez kuhn·FYOO·zuhng PLAHT
"Her performance received a great review."
her per·FOR·muhns ruh·SEEVD uh GRAYT ruh·VYOO
"I need to review the notes before the exam next Thursday."
ahy NEED tuh ruh·VYOO dhuh NOHTS buh·FOR dhee uhg·ZAM NEHKST THURZ·day
"I need to review the study guide before the test next week."
ahy NEED tuh ruh·VYOO dhuh STUH·dee GAHYD buh·FOR dhuh TEHST NEHKST WEEK
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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 VYOO — keep everything else short and quick.
RUH·vyoo→ruh·VYOO
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.
RUH·VYOO→ruh·VYOO
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "review" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the second syllable — say "VYOO" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "ruh-VYOO" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Why does the first syllable in "review" 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 "ruh-VYOO" shows the reduced form so you can hear the casual rhythm directly.
Is the American pronunciation of "review" 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 "ruh-VYOO" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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