2 syllables: Cos, tume. Stress on tume.
kah-STOOM
/kɑˈstum/
Costume is pronounced kah-STOOM (/kɑˈstum/). It has two syllables (Cos-tume), with the stress on "tume". Costume is a noun referring to clothing worn to create a particular appearance, often for a performance, holiday, or themed event. It emphasizes disguise or role-play more than everyday wear, and costumes are typically distinctive, styled garments that convey character, period, or fantasy. The term also appears as a verb in some dialects meaning to dress in attire for a specific role or occasion. (2-4 sentences, 50-80 words).
nounCostume is a noun referring to clothing worn to create a particular appearance, often for a performance, holiday, or themed event. It emphasizes disguise or role-play more than everyday wear, and costumes are typically distinctive, styled garments that convey character, period, or fantasy. The term also appears as a verb in some dialects meaning to dress in attire for a specific role or occasion. (2-4 sentences, 50-80 words)
"She wore a pirate costume to the party and won the best-dressed prize."
"The theater group rented costumes for the annual performance."
"For Halloween, the kids picked costumes from the attic and painted their faces."
Pronounce as COO-stoom or KAH-stoom with primary stress on the first syllable. IPA US: /ˈkɒs.tjuːm/ (British: /ˈkɒs.tjuːm/), Australian: /ˈkɒs.tjuːm/. The first syllable carries stress; the vowel is a short o, followed by an unstressed /t/ and a /juː/ glide before the final /m/. Try saying: COST-youm, ensuring the ‘st’ cluster and the /t/ are crisp, and finish with a clean /m/.
Common errors include misplacing stress (saying co-STUME) and mispronouncing the middle vowel as /u/ or /ju/ without the correct fronted /t/ transition. Another mistake is softening the /t/ into a /d/ or dropping the /juː/ glide. Correction tips: keep stress on the first syllable, pronounce /ˈkɒs.tjuːm/ with a light but audible /t/ before the /juː/ and final /m/, and avoid turning it into /ˈkoʊstjuːm/ or /ˈkæs.tuːm/.
US tends to /ˈkɒs.tuːm/ with a rhotic-less or rhotic center depending on speaker; UK often /ˈkɒs.tjuːm/ with a clear /tjuː/ sequence; AU generally mirrors UK with a clipped /ˈkɒs.tjuːm/ and similar /tj/ articulation. The key is the /t/ + /juː/ sequence; some speakers reanalyze /tjuː/ as /tju/ or reduce to /tʃu/ in casual speech. The final /m/ remains closed. Note rhoticity is less relevant here since there’s no rhotic vowel in this word.
It’s challenging because of the /tjuː/ cluster after the stressed syllable, which can blend or reduce into /tuː/ or /tjə/ in fast speech. The mid syllable blends the /s/ and /t/ before the /juː/ glide, and speakers often misplace the stress or elongate the second syllable. Focus on crisp /t/ + /juː/ transition and keep the final /m/ clear to avoid losing the last consonant.
Costume has no silent letters; the challenge is accurate primary stress on the first syllable and the /tjuː/ sequence that should not be reduced to /tuː/ or /tjuː/ with a weak transition. The syllable boundary is toss-up in casual speech, but you should keep it distinct: /ˈkɒs.tjuːm/. This makes your speech clear in performance contexts where intelligibility between characters matters.
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Costume comes from the French word costume, which itself derives from the Italian costume meaning ‘costume, attire,’ and ultimately from the Latin consūtus ‘put together, sewn.’ The root is con- ‘together’ + sutus ‘stitched.’ In English, costume originally described clothing appropriate to a character or role (a play, pageant, or masquerade) and later expanded to mean any distinctive clothing for a particular purpose. The shift toward a broader sense of “dress” occurred by the 18th and 19th centuries as theatrical and festive contexts popularized the term. Over time, costume has retained its core meaning—clothing designed to represent a character, era, or theme—while also becoming a general term for outfits created for performances or celebrations. The word’s social associations with theater, disguise, and celebration have influenced its usage in modern English. 200-300 words.
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💡 These words have similar meanings to "Costume" and can often be used interchangeably.
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Words that rhyme with "Costume"
-ume sounds
-med sounds
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