In today’s advanced English pronunciation lesson, I’ll teach you how to pronounce furore, which is a noun that describes the public’s angry reaction to something. We’re going to look at this confusing word in detail because it is commonly mispronounced by everybody!
‘Furore’ Meaning
When a situation or event causes the public to angrily react, it can be described as a ‘furore’ (n). The public’s angry reaction to such events is often stirred up by the media. For example, ‘There was a public furore about the Downing Street party that happened during lockdown’.
Another example sentence is: ‘When the government raised taxes, there was a furore about it’.
‘Furore’ Etymology
The word ‘furore’ is originally an Italian word, which means ‘frenzy, rage, madness’.
UK Vs American Differences
Part of the reason that the word ‘furore’ causes so much confusion is that the British and American versions of the word are spelt and pronounced differently. The British version is faithful to the Italian spelling (furore), whereas the American spelling has been simplified (furor). In terms of pronunciation, the American pronunciation has two syllables and sounds the same as the German word ‘führer’, which means leader or guide.
Furore British English Pronunciation
There is more than one way to pronounce the word ‘furore’. We will focus our attention on the easiest British English pronunciation, which has three syllables.
/fjuˈrɔːri/ → sounds like few-ROAR-ree
▶︎ The first syllable is pronounced ‘few’, like the opposite of many.
▶︎ The second syllable carries the stress and is pronounced ‘ROAR’, like the sound a lion makes.
▶︎ The final syllable contains a long vowel and is pronounced ‘ree’.
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