Arraigned is the past tense of arraign, meaning to formally call someone before a court to answer a charge. It is a legal term used in court proceedings and typically occurs at the outset of a case. The word carries a formal register and is often found in news reports and legal writing.
"The suspect was arraigned in the district court and entered a plea."
"During the arraignment, the judge read the charges aloud."
"She was arraigned on multiple counts and denied the allegations."
"Journalists noted that the arraignment signaled the beginning of the trial process."
Arraign derives from the Old French enrager, meaning to bring before a court, compounded in English legal use through Middle English. The verb arraign entered English via legal contexts in the 14th–15th centuries, with roots in Latin adjurare (to swear in), plus influence from French arrainer (to set in position or to arraign, in the sense of presenting for judgment). Over time, the meaning narrowed to the formal process of calling a defendant before a court to answer charges. The base form arraign evolved through standard English verb formation, with the past tense arraigned following the regular -ed suffix. In modern usage, it is almost exclusively a legal term, appearing in journalism, court transcripts, and legal fiction. First known uses appear in legal records and parliamentary acts documenting judicial procedures in medieval and early modern England, reflecting the formalization of the criminal justice process and the codification of arraignment as the initial court step in criminal proceedings.
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Words that rhyme with "Arraigned"
-ned sounds
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Arraigned is pronounced ə-REYND, with the primary stress on the second syllable: /əˈreɪnd/. Start with a short, relaxed schwa in the first syllable, then glide into the long aɪ sound in the second syllable, ending with a clear d. The final sound is a voiced alveolar stop. Audio reference: listen for the steady /ɪ/ plus /nd/ closure just before the final /d/; you should feel the tongue rise to produce /eɪ/ and close off with /d/.
Two frequent errors: (1) misplacing the stress, saying ar-RAI-nd instead of a-RAYND; (2) mispronouncing the /eɪ/ as a short /e/ or /aɪ/, producing 'arraind' or 'arrained'. Corrective tips: emphasize the second syllable with a clear /eɪ/ glide, keep the first syllable as a short schwa /ə/, and finish with a crisp /nd/. Practice by isolating the /ˈreɪnd/ part and then linking to the initial /ə/.
In US English, you hear a clearly stressed second syllable with /əˈreɪnd/ and a rhotic ending; the /r/ is pronounced. In many UK accents, the /r/ is non-rhotic before a vowel, but in this word the /r/ comes before a vowel, so it remains pronounced as /əˈreɪnd/. Australian English keeps /r/ but often with a less velar release, so it can sound lighter. Overall, the main difference is rhoticity and vowel quality; the /eɪ/ diphthong remains central in all, but vowel length and r-color can shift slightly.
Two core challenges: the /ə/ in the first syllable can be weak and easy to reduce in casual speech, obscuring the start of the word; and the /reɪnd/ portion hinges on a clean /eɪ/ diphthong followed by a crisp /nd/. In rapid speech, speakers may merge /nd/ with preceding sounds or flatten the /eɪ/ into a simpler vowel. Focus on sustaining the second syllable with the long /eɪ/ and articulating the final /nd/ clearly to achieve intelligibility.
No silent letters in the standard pronunciation. The word is pronounced with all letters contributing: a-schwa, r, ray(n)d with a clear n plus d at the end. Paying attention to the /r/ and the /eɪ/ diphthong helps avoid quiet vowels or eliding consonants.
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