uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
How to pronounce uncontrollably in American English
uhn·kuhn·TROH·luh·blee
Start here
Americans pronounce uncontrollably as uhn-kuhn-TROH-luh-blee (/ˌʌnkənˈtroʊləbli/). In "uncontrollably", the "tr" cluster blends into a "chr" sound — a natural American English pronunciation. This is called the TR Sounds Like CHR, a hallmark of natural-sounding American speech. It comes out as UHN·kuhn·TROH·luh·blee. Stress falls on the third syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "The audience laughed uncontrollably at the comedy sketch".
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "uncontrollably".
5 syllables, 13 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
n/n/
Touch the tip or front edge of your tongue to the roof of your mouth behind your teeth. Air flows through your nose.
k/k/
Raise the back of your tongue to touch the soft palate (velum). Stop the air, then release.
uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
n/n/
SyllabicThe schwa before N disappears — N becomes the vowel of the syllable. Go straight from the previous consonant to N.
t/t/
PalatalizedTongue pulls back slightly from the T position, blending into R. Sounds close to 'chr'.
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.
oh/oʊ/
Start with your mouth slightly open, then close your jaw slightly as your lips round. Shift your tongue back slightly, then stretch the back up.
l/l/
Place the tip of your tongue against the alveolar ridge just behind your top front teeth, the same contact point as /t/, /d/, and /n/. The difference is what happens to the air: for /l/, you let it flow continuously around the <em>sides</em> of the tongue (that's why /l/ is called a lateral). Turn your voice on the whole time. Lips stay relaxed, no rounding or flaring. For the Dark L variant at the end of a syllable, also pull the back of the tongue up and back toward the soft palate.
uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
b/b/
Press your lips together, add vocal cord vibration, then release.
l/l/
Place the tip of your tongue against the alveolar ridge just behind your top front teeth, the same contact point as /t/, /d/, and /n/. The difference is what happens to the air: for /l/, you let it flow continuously around the <em>sides</em> of the tongue (that's why /l/ is called a lateral). Turn your voice on the whole time. Lips stay relaxed, no rounding or flaring. For the Dark L variant at the end of a syllable, also pull the back of the tongue up and back toward the soft palate.
ee/i/
Pull the corners of your lips back slightly. Arch the middle-front of your tongue high toward the roof of the mouth.
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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
Saying a clean "tr" instead of a "ch" sound.
In "uncontrollably", the "tr" cluster blends into a "chr" sound — a natural American English pronunciation. /t/ shifts toward /tʃ/ ("ch"), so TR sounds like "chr".
uhn-kuhn-TROH-luh-blee→UHN·kuhn·TROH·luh·blee
02
Inserting a vowel before the syllabic consonant.
In "uncontrollably", the short unstressed vowel before "n" disappears — the schwa is absorbed and the "n" becomes the syllable nucleus on its own. Schwa is absorbed — consonant becomes the syllable nucleus.
uncontrollably→UHN·kuhn·TROH·luh·blee
03
Stressing the wrong syllable.
Stress falls on the third syllable, not the others. Stretch TROH — keep everything else short and quick.
UHN·KUHN·troh·LUH·BLEE→UHN·kuhn·TROH·luh·blee
04
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.
UHN·kuhn·TROH·luh·blee→UHN·kuhn·TROH·luh·blee
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "uncontrollably" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the third syllable — say "TROH" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "uhn-kuhn-TROH-luh-blee" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Why does the first syllable in "uncontrollably" 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 "uhn-kuhn-TROH-luh-blee" shows the reduced form so you can hear the casual rhythm directly.
Is the American pronunciation of "uncontrollably" 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 "uhn-kuhn-TROH-luh-blee" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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