w/w/
Round your lips into a tight circle. Lift the back of your tongue toward the soft palate and add voice.
How to pronounce widespread in American English
WAHYD·sprehd
Start here
Americans pronounce widespread as WAHYD-sprehd (/ˈwaɪdˌsprɛd/). Stress falls on the first syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "The recession caused widespread unemployment across multiple industries".
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "widespread".
2 syllables, 8 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
ahy/aɪ/
Start with your jaw open wide and your tongue resting low and flat. Glide the front of your tongue up toward the roof of your mouth as your jaw closes halfway.
d/d/
Touch the tip of your tongue to the roof of your mouth just behind your teeth. Add vocal cord vibration as you release.
s/s/
Place your tongue tip near the roof of your mouth behind your top teeth. Push air through the narrow gap. No voicing.
p/p/
Press your lips together to stop the air, then release. No vocal cord vibration.
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.
eh/ɛ/
Drop your jaw moderately. Touch the tongue tip behind the bottom front teeth and lift the mid-front part slightly toward the roof.
d/d/
Touch the tip of your tongue to the roof of your mouth just behind your teeth. Add vocal cord vibration as you release.
In real conversation
Hear "widespread" in the wild.
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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 first syllable, not the others. Stretch WAHYD — keep everything else short and quick.
wahyd·SPREHD→WAHYD·SPREHD
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "widespread" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the first syllable — say "WAHYD" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "WAHYD-sprehd" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Is the American pronunciation of "widespread" 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 "WAHYD-sprehd" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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