Adjacent Words

Vowel definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

VOWEL, n.
1. In grammer, a simple sound; a sound utterd by simply opening the mouth or organs; as the sound of a, e, o.
2. The letter or character which represents a simple sound.
VOWEL, a. Pertaining to a vowel; vocal.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a speech sound made with the vocal tract open [syn: vowel, vowel sound] [ant: consonant]
2: a letter of the alphabet standing for a spoken vowel

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French vowele, from Latin vocalis — more at vocalic Date: 14th century 1. one of a class of speech sounds in the articulation of which the oral part of the breath channel is not blocked and is not constructioncted enough to cause audible friction; broadly the one most prominent sound in a syllable 2. a letter or other symbol representing a vowel — usually used in English of a, e, i, o, u, and sometimes y

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 a speech-sound made with vibration of the vocal cords but without audible friction, more open than a consonant and capable of forming a syllable. 2 a letter or letters representing this, as a, e, i, o, u, aw, ah. Phrases and idioms: vowel gradation = ABLAUT. vowel mutation = UMLAUT 2. vowel-point each of a set of marks indicating vowels in Hebrew etc. Derivatives: vowelled adj. (also in comb.). vowelless adj. vowelly adj. Etymology: ME f. OF vouel, voiel f. L vocalis (littera) VOCAL (letter)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Vowel Vow"el, n. [F. voyelle, or an OF. form without y, L. vocalis (sc. littera), from vocalis sounding, from vox, vocis, a voice, sound. See Vocal.] (Phon.) A vocal, or sometimes a whispered, sound modified by resonance in the oral passage, the peculiar resonance in each case giving to each several vowel its distinctive character or quality as a sound of speech; -- distinguished from a consonant in that the latter, whether made with or without vocality, derives its character in every case from some kind of obstructive action by the mouth organs. Also, a letter or character which represents such a sound. See Guide to Pronunciation, [sect][sect] 5, 146-149. Note: In the English language, the written vowels are a, e, i, o, u, and sometimes w and y. The spoken vowels are much more numerous. Close vowel. See under Close, a. Vowel point. See under Point, n.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Vowel Vow"el, a. Of or pertaining to a vowel; vocal.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(vowels) A vowel is a sound such as the ones represented in writing by the letters 'a', 'e' 'i', 'o' and 'u', which you pronounce with your mouth open, allowing the air to flow through it. Compare consonant. The vowel in words like 'my' and 'thigh' is not very difficult. N-COUNT

1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue

A gamester who does not immediately pay his losings, is said to vowel the winner, by repeating the vowels I. O. U. or perhaps from giving his note for the money according to the Irish form, where the acknowledgment of the debt is expressed by the letters I. O. U. which, the sum and name of the debtor being added, is deemed a sufficient security among gentlemen.

Moby Thesaurus

accented, allophone, alveolar, apical, apico-alveolar, apico-dental, articulated, articulation, aspiration, assimilated, assimilation, back, barytone, bilabial, broad, cacuminal, central, cerebral, check, checked, close, consonant, consonantal, continuant, dental, diphthong, dissimilated, dissimilation, dorsal, epenthetic vowel, explosive, flat, front, glide, glossal, glottal, glottalization, guttural, hard, heavy, high, intonated, labial, labialization, labiodental, labiovelar, laryngeal, lateral, lax, light, lingual, liquid, low, manner of articulation, mid, modification, monophthong, monophthongal, morphophoneme, mute, muted, narrow, nasal, nasalized, occlusive, open, oxytone, palatal, palatalized, parasitic vowel, peak, pharyngeal, pharyngealization, pharyngealized, phone, phoneme, phonemic, phonetic, phonic, pitch, pitched, plosive, posttonic, prothetic vowel, retroflex, rounded, segmental phoneme, semivowel, soft, sonant, sonority, speech sound, stop, stopped, stressed, strong, surd, syllabic, syllabic nucleus, syllabic peak, syllable, tense, thick, throaty, tonal, tonic, transition sound, triphthong, twangy, unaccented, unrounded, unstressed, velar, vocable, vocal, vocalic, vocoid, voice, voiced, voiced sound, voiceless, voiceless sound, voicing, vowellike, weak, wide