How to Use syllable in a Sentence

syllable

noun
  • The first syllable of the word “doctor” is given stress.
  • The word “doctor” has two syllables.
  • Each syllable an aeon, each body its true size.
    — Jana Prikryl, Harpers Magazine, 19 Sep. 2025
  • Sometimes the syllables would be kind of off.
    — Nicole Fell, HollywoodReporter, 3 Sep. 2019
  • Now that was a different syllable, not a whole word, a third of a word.
    — Andre Gee, Rolling Stone, 6 Oct. 2023
  • Two words, two syllables; one from earth, the other of heaven.
    — Zachary Fine, New Yorker, 23 Sep. 2025
  • The name can be pronounced with two syllables (/ˈkwɑːwɑːr/) or three (/ˈkwɑːoʊ(w)ɑːr/).
    — Nola Taylor Tillman, Space.com, 10 Sep. 2025
  • The syllables hung in the air as people waited for someone to walk up to the stage.
    — Globe Staff, BostonGlobe.com, 16 May 2023
  • Then, the species should evolve larger syllable repertoires over time.
    — Cristina Robinson, The Conversation, 3 Sep. 2019
  • Out came a terrible mess of syllables that would never fool me.
    — Saahil Desai, The Atlantic, 17 July 2023
  • In the end, there was nothing to worry about; the fans sang along to every syllable.
    — Carrie Battan, Vulture, 15 Jan. 2026
  • This means a lot of single-syllable words and even more neutral answers.
    — Ct Jones, Rolling Stone, 5 Sep. 2025
  • Ruiz Zafón was one of those artists who worried over every syllable.
    — Washington Post, 1 Dec. 2021
  • Boyd’s accent gave the word an extra syllable.
    — Nell Freudenberger, Harpers Magazine, 27 Jan. 2026
  • Albanality, a friend of mine says, but the syllables don’t work out.
    — Elisa Albert, Longreads, 7 May 2018
  • Keweenaw Put the long E sound in the first syllable, not the second.
    — Brian Manzullo, Detroit Free Press, 27 June 2018
  • So, the sounds and syllables in lyrics are uttered on or in between the beats with emphasis in all the right places.
    — San Diego Union-Tribune, 22 June 2019
  • Nearly 11 years old, Evan cannot decode a word with more than two syllables.
    — Caryn M. Sullivan, Twin Cities, 13 Oct. 2019
  • Brooks puts a rude, glorious spin on the last syllable, then struts around, high-fiving her girls in triumph.
    — Alexandra Schwartz, The New Yorker, 17 June 2019
  • Kyé7e taught me to wrap untrained cheek, tongue, and throat muscles around vowel-less syllables.
    — Julian Brave Noisecat, The New Yorker, 14 Nov. 2019
  • Those with the speech impediment can repeat sounds or syllables, make longer sounds, or get stuck on a word or sound.
    — Rachael O'Connor, MSNBC Newsweek, 27 Nov. 2025
  • But the Classic is bringing a lot more than just a ton of syllables to Canton.
    — Marc Bona, cleveland.com, 31 Aug. 2019
  • So far, the researchers have transcribed about 50 hours of barks into syllables.
    — Miriam Fauzia, Boston Herald, 12 Oct. 2025
  • As usual in these games, the first syllable is appropriate, the second needs to be tweaked.
    — Los Angeles Times, 23 May 2021
  • On one call, the person on the other end said that the phone was sometimes cutting off the last syllable of my sentences.
    — Antonio G. Di Benedetto, The Verge, 6 Feb. 2023
  • In the script, her name was Chloris, which didn't match the syllable count or rhyme with the female body part in question.
    — Marc Freeman, The Hollywood Reporter, 13 May 2018
  • Otarbai spent hours in their cell teaching Koksebek the songs by heart, one syllable at a time.
    — Ben Mauk, The New Yorker, 27 Feb. 2021
  • Simon, the first two syllables of Samuel’s original last name.
    — Cyrus Grace Dunham, The New Yorker, 12 Aug. 2019
  • McFarlane raised his hands to break down the syllables of his top-secret device.
    — David Betancourt, Washington Post, 21 Dec. 2023
  • On her little brother’s birthday, Mandy can barely form the syllables to sing when his cake is brought out.
    — Sophie Gilbert, The Atlantic, 27 July 2019

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'syllable.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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