Enunciate

Enunciate is a verb that means to pronounce words clearly and distinctly. In everyday use, it denotes the act of speaking in a way that others can readily understand. In linguistics and speech-language pathology, enunciation refers more specifically to the precise formation of phonemes, syllables, and prosody, contributing to overall intelligibility. The related noun enunciation denotes the quality of being easily understood.

Origin: from Latin enuntiare, meaning to declare or reveal, via Old French into English.

Distinction: enunciation versus articulation versus pronunciation. Enunciation emphasizes clarity of speech; articulation concerns the movement of the speech organs to produce sounds; pronunciation is about the accepted form of words in a language or dialect.

Usage and practice: in education and therapy, improving enunciation involves strategies to enhance intelligibility, such as emphasizing consonants, maintaining steady tempo, and controlling breath. Speakers may engage in drills that focus on precise vowel quality, crisp consonant articulation, and careful word stress, while balancing natural speech and listener expectations. Cultural and regional variations can affect what is considered clear enunciation, so the goal is typically intelligible rather than perfectly uniform speech.

See also diction, pronunciation, articulation.