5 syllables: con, fed, er, a, cy. Stress on fed.
kuhn-FED-ur-uh-see
/kənˈfɛdɚəsi/
confederacy is pronounced kuhn-FED-ur-uh-see (/kənˈfɛdɚəsi/). It has five syllables (con-fed-er-a-cy), with the stress on "fed". Confederacy refers to a league, alliance, or union formed for a common purpose, often political or military. It denotes a group of states or regions that have joined together under a central authority or joint cause, sometimes temporarily or historically in opposition to a larger federation. The term emphasizes cooperative, collective action rather than individual sovereignty.
Confederacy refers to a league, alliance, or union formed for a common purpose, often political or military. It denotes a group of states or regions that have joined together under a central authority or joint cause, sometimes temporarily or historically in opposition to a larger federation. The term emphasizes cooperative, collective action rather than individual sovereignty.
"The Confederacy declared independence from the Union in the 1860s, seeking a different political arrangement."
"Historically, several regional confederacies have emerged in times of crisis or modernization."
"Modern discussions sometimes distinguish between a formal confederacy and looser regional coalitions."
Pronounce as /ˌkɒn.fəˈdɛr.ə.si/ (British) or /ˌkɑːn.fəˈdɛr.ə.si/ (American). Stress falls on the third syllable: con-fe-dera-cy, with /ˈdɛr/ emphasized. Start with a schwa in the second syllable, then a clear /d/ + /ɛ/ vowel, and finish with /si/ or /sy/. In connected speech, the final -cy often reduces slightly to /si/; keep the /r/ sound crisp in rhotic accents. You can listen to native pronunciations on Forvo or YouGlish for intonation cues.
Common errors include over-stressing the second syllable (con-FE-der-a-cy) or reducing the middle /d/ to a tapping /ɾ/ in American casual speech. Another pitfall is misplacing the stress on the first or last syllable. Correct approach: secondary stress on the -dera- segment and a clear /d/ followed by /ɛ/; avoid turning /dɛr/ into /də/ in the middle. Practice slowing to hear the /dɛr/ cluster distinctly, then speed up.
In US accents, the initial /kən/ is unstressed; the primary stress is on /ˈdɛr/, with rhotic /r/ clearly pronounced. UK accents often reduce the first syllable a bit more and may feature a slightly less rhotic /r/ in non-rhotic variants, but /ˈdɛr/ remains stressed. Australian speech tends toward a clearer /r/ if rhotic, with a tad more vowel reduction in the first syllable. Across all, keep /ˌkɒn.fəˈdɛrə.si/ or /ˌkɒn.fəˈdɛr.ə.si/ patterns depending on vowel shifts; listening to recordings helps anchor the rhythm.
Difficulties center on the three-syllable rhythm with a mid-stress on -dera-, plus a final -cy that can sound like /ˈsi/ or /-sɪ/ in quick speech. The sequence /n.fə/ in the first two syllables blends quickly, making the schwa and the light /f/ challenging. The /d/ is followed by a front vowel, so you must open your jaw modestly to avoid a muffled /dər/; ensure the /r/ (in rhotic accents) is audible without curling the tongue excessively.
Think about the -dera- cluster and the -cy ending: some pronounce the final syllable as /si/ with a light /s/ and a clear /i/. A unique nuance is that in careful speech you’ll hear a short secondary stress toward the end of the word in some dialects, effectively giving a subtle three-beat rhythm: con-fə-DER-a-cy. IPA guide helps: /ˌkɒn.fəˈdɛr.ə.si/ (non-rhotic UK may move /r/ slightly), /ˌkɑːn.fəˈdɛr.ə.si/ (US).
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Confederacy comes from the Late Latin confœderācus, formed from com- (together) + foederāre (to unite or bind with an agreement), from foedus (covenant, treaty). The English form emerged in the 18th–19th centuries as a term for political unions of states or regions that join under a common authority, often with autonomous status retained. Early uses in political discourse described loose alliances bound by treaties, evolving to denote more formal union structures such as a confederation or a politically aligned bloc. The word’s sense expanded to describe coalitions in civil, military, and social contexts, and it frequently appears in historical discussions of secessionist or regional governance movements. The core idea is cooperative binding through legal or constitutional covenants, rather than a single centralized sovereignty.
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Words that rhyme with "confederacy"
-acy sounds
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