2 syllables: free, doms. Stress on free.
FREE-duhmz
/ˈfɹidəmz/
freedoms is pronounced FREE-duhmz (/ˈfɹidəmz/). It has two syllables (free-doms), with the stress on "free". Freedoms is the plural form of freedom, referring to multiple liberties or privileges. In usage, it often appears in discussions of civil liberties, personal rights, or abstract concepts of autonomy, and can emphasize a collective or varied set of liberties. Pronounced with a clear final /z/ in most contexts, the word functions as a countable noun in formal and informal discourse.
Freedoms is the plural form of freedom, referring to multiple liberties or privileges. In usage, it often appears in discussions of civil liberties, personal rights, or abstract concepts of autonomy, and can emphasize a collective or varied set of liberties. Pronounced with a clear final /z/ in most contexts, the word functions as a countable noun in formal and informal discourse.
- Misplacing stress by emphasizing the second syllable (friː-ED-oms); maintain primary stress on the first syllable: /ˈfriː.dəmz/. - Over-articulating the middle vowel, pronouncing it as /iː/ or /oʊ/ instead of a schwa; aim for /ə/ or near-schwa. - Final consonant confusion: pronounce /z/ as /s/ in connected speech; keep voicing to end with /z/. - Slurring the /d/ into the /m/: practice the /d/ and /m/ separation to avoid blending into /dm/.
"- The new charter guarantees several freedoms, including speech and assembly."
"- In many countries, freedoms are safeguarded by law, yet still contested in practice."
"- They fought for more freedoms, not just religious liberty but economic opportunity as well."
You say /ˈfriː.dəmz/ in most varieties. The first syllable has a long /iː/ as in 'free', the second is a schwa or light /ə/ in many accents depending on tempo, and the final /z/ is a voiced alveolar fricative. Stress falls on the first syllable: FREED-ums. In connected speech, the /d/ can assimilate with the following alveolar stop, giving a smoother transition to /m/ in rapid speech.
A frequent error is misplacing stress or pronouncing the second syllable with a full vowel instead of a reduced /ə/. Another mistake is turning the final /z/ into /s/ in rapid speech, or inserting an extra syllable as /friː.dɒməz/. Correct by keeping /ˈfriː.dəmz/ with a light, schwa-like middle vowel and a crisp hissing end /z/.
In US and UK, the first syllable is stressed with /iː/; US often elevates the /ə/ as a slightly more reduced schwa than UK. The final consonant is a voiced /z/ in both, but Australians may export a lighter /ə/ in the middle and a softer /z/. Rhoticity does not change the word’s core vowels, but vowel quality and overall rhythm shift slightly depending on accent. IPA: US /ˈfriː.dəmz/; UK /ˈfriː.dəmz/; AU /ˈfriː.dəms/.
For many speakers, the challenge is the short, reduced middle vowel and the smooth transition from /d/ to /m/ to /z/. The liaison between /friː/ and /d/ can blur in fast speech, and the final /mz/ sequence requires precise voicing and mouth closure. Practice with slow, tied syllables (/friː.dəmz/) and then gradually speed up to natural tempo while maintaining a clear final /z/.
Noting the pluralized form of a mass or abstract noun, the stress pattern stays on the first syllable even though the meaning spans multiple liberties. The middle vowel commonly reduces to /ə/ in many dialects, but you should retain a clear /iː/ in the first syllable. This helps avoid conflating with 'freedoms' sounding like 'freedom' with a trailing consonant, especially in fast speech.
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- US: keep rhotic-like vowel quality in /ɜr/ area? Not applicable; focus on strong /r/ only if present in /friː/; UK: allow slightly more centralized /ə/; AU: faster mouth movements, flatter intonation. - Vowel lengths: /iː/ should be held slightly longer in careful speech; the middle /ə/ is short but perceptible. - Final /z/: ensure voicing; keep air flowing to voice the /z/ without devoicing. - Tongue position: front high for /iː/, mid-low for /ə/, tongue slight raise for /m/.
Freedoms derives from freedom, which enters English from Old English freodom, composed of free + -dom (a noun suffix indicating state or condition). Freedom itself traces to Proto-Germanic frijam, related toOld Norse frelsi and Dutch vrijheit, all rooted in the concept of being not bound or enslaved. The term appeared in Middle English as freodome, later evolving to freedom by the 14th century, with plural formations such as freedoms appearing in the 16th–18th centuries as plural references to multiple liberties or the abstract notion of liberty in pluralized form. The suffix -s for pluralization is standard in English and commonly used to indicate multiple instances or types, hence freedoms often signals a variety or collection of liberties rather than a single unit. Over time, the semantic scope broadened from a legalistic or religious sense of liberty to a broad social and political domain, including personal autonomy, individual rights, and civic liberties, which is how it’s typically used today in formal discourse and advocacy contexts.
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💡 These words have similar meanings to "freedoms" and can often be used interchangeably.
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Words that rhyme with "freedoms"
-oms sounds
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