Definition of syllable
- n. - An elementary sound, or a combination of elementary
sounds, uttered together, or with a single effort or impulse of the
voice, and constituting a word or a part of a word. In other terms, it
is a vowel or a diphtong, either by itself or flanked by one or more
consonants, the whole produced by a single impulse or utterance. One of
the liquids, l, m, n, may fill the place of a vowel in a syllable.
Adjoining syllables in a word or phrase need not to be marked off by a
pause, but only by such an abatement and renewal, or reenforcement, of
the stress as to give the feeling of separate impulses. See Guide to
Pronunciation, /275.
- n. - In writing and printing, a part of a word, separated from
the rest, and capable of being pronounced by a single impulse of the
voice. It may or may not correspond to a syllable in the spoken
language.
- n. - A small part of a sentence or discourse; anything concise
or short; a particle.
- v. t. - To pronounce the syllables of; to utter; to
articulate.