continuant

1. 1.

   consonant articulated by constricting (but not closing) the vocal tract

   Synonymscontinuant consonant

   Broaderobstruent

   Narrowerfricative consonant

1. 1.

   of speech sounds produced by forcing air through a constricted passage (as `f', `s', `z', or `th' in both `thin' and `then')

   Synonymsfricativesibilantspirantstrident

   Similarsoft

Other forms of continuant

plural

continuants·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about continuant

What does continuant mean?

continuant means "consonant articulated by constricting (but not closing) the vocal tract". That is the primary sense; the word has 2 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in continuant?

continuant has 4 syllables: con-ti-nu-ant. The stress falls on "ti".

What is another word for continuant?

Close synonyms include continuant consonant, fricative, sibilant, spirant, strident. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is continuant a common word?

continuant is banded "Rare" — specialist or archaic — most readers will not have met it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.