Phonate

//fəʊˈneɪt// adj, verb

adj, verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To make sounds with one's voice. intransitive

    "His voice is perfect; he phonates loudly and well."

  2. 2
    utter speech sounds wordnet
  3. 3
    To use one's voice to make specific sounds. transitive

    "[T]he tongue may rise up in the mouth, even while the patient phonates the vowel "a" [eh], in which case it will also need to be depressed by the finger, as just described."

Adjective
  1. 1
    voiced not-comparable

Synonyms

All synonyms
vocalizearticulatebreathechimechoruscome out with

Example

More examples

"His voice is perfect; he phonates loudly and well."

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Ancient Greek φωνή (phōnḗ, “voice, sound”) + -ate (verb-forming suffix), modelled after phonation, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂- (“to say, speak”).

Etymology 2

From Ancient Greek φωνή (phōnḗ, “voice, sound”) + -ate (adjective-forming suffix, with perfect meaning).

More for "phonate"

SynonymsSentencesPronunciationTranslate

Next best steps

Find stronger synonymsSee usage examplesCheck pronunciationBrowse writing guides

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.