2 syllables: ful, ness. Stress on ful.
FUUL-nuhs
/ˈfʊl.nəs/
fulness is pronounced FUUL-nuhs (/ˈfʊl.nəs/). It has two syllables (ful-ness), with the stress on "ful". Fulness is a noun meaning the state of being full or abundant, often used in contexts like appetite, contentment, or the extent of something. It denotes fullness in quantity, degree, or completeness, and can appear in phrases such as “fullness of detail” or “the fullness of joy.”.
Fulness is a noun meaning the state of being full or abundant, often used in contexts like appetite, contentment, or the extent of something. It denotes fullness in quantity, degree, or completeness, and can appear in phrases such as “fullness of detail” or “the fullness of joy.”
"The fullness of the harvest impressed the villagers."
"He spoke with a fullness of conviction that moved the audience."
"The bowl held the fullness of the soup, not a drop left."
You say /ˈfʊlnəs/. Start with /f/ then /ʊ/ (like the vowel in cart), followed by /l/; the /n/ begins the second syllable, and end with /əs/ where the final /s/ is crisp. The stress is on the first syllable: FUL-. Think of “full” plus the -ness suffix, keeping a light, quick transition from /l/ to /n/. Audio references can help you hear the /ʊ/ and the short, unstressed /ə/ in the second syllable.
Two frequent errors: (1) pronouncing the first syllable as /fjuːl/ like ‘fool’ instead of /fʊl/. Correct by relaxing the vowel to /ʊ/ and avoiding /juː/. (2) Slurring the second syllable to /s/ or losing the /n/ before it, producing /ˈfʊləs/; fix by clearly articulating the /l/ and moving the tongue to /n/ before the /əs/. Practice with minimal pairs like full vs. fulness and pull vs. pullness to feel the difference.
In US, UK, and AU, the initial /f/ and /l/ are consistent, but /ʊ/ quality can vary with rhoticity and vowel length. US/UK/AU all share /ˈfʊl/ onset, but US may have a slightly shorter /ʊ/ and a more pronounced rhotic influence in connected speech; UK non-rhotic accents may leave the ending /əs/ crisper in careful speech, while AU often merges vowels toward a centralized /ə/ in rapid speech. Overall: /ˈfʊlnəs/ with subtle vowel quality shifts and final /ən/ or /əs/ realizations depending on pace and region.
The challenge lies in transitioning from the rounded /ʊ/ in the first syllable to a quick /l/ with a clear /n/ onset before the final /əs/. It requires precise tongue elevation for /ʊ/, a light touch /l/ at the alveolar ridge, and an abrupt /n/ followed by a reduced /əs/. In rapid speech, the vowels can compress, turning /nəs/ into a near-syllabic /n̩s/; practice by isolating the sequence ful-nəs slowly, then accelerate.
Is the /l/ in ful- always clearly vocalized, or can it become more vocalized or elided in certain contexts? Answer: In careful speech, the /l/ is clearly articulated as a light alveolar lateral, with the tongue contacting the alveolar ridge, producing a crisp /l/ before the /n/. In rapid connected speech, you may experience some coarticulation reducing the lateral release slightly, but it should remain audible to preserve the word’s integrity.
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The word fulness originates from Middle English fulnesse, from Old English fullnes(s) and related to the Proto-Germanic *fullnaz, from *fullaz meaning ‘filled, full.’ The root full- expresses ‘filled to capacity,’ and the suffix -ness denotes a state or quality. The semantic evolution traces a straightforward path: a physical fullness (having enough) expanding to abstract fullness (completeness, abundance, sufficiency). In Early Modern English, fulnesse appeared in religious and philosophical writings to describe spiritual abundance and completeness, then broadened to general usage in literature and speech. First known uses appear in glossaries and religious tracts of the 9th–12th centuries, with standard spellings stabilizing to fulnes in Middle English, later ossified to fullness in Early Modern English. The word’s endurance reflects a common Indo-European pattern of converting adjectives like full into nominal states via the -ness suffix, paralleling similar formations in Germanic languages where full translates across to voll and Vollheit. Modern usage retains the abstract nuance: fullness can describe both physical capacity and an ideal of plenitude in various domains (emotional, aesthetic, quantitative). The pronunciation remained relatively stable through orthographic shifts, with stress typically on the first syllable, and the final -ness suffix preserved in modern forms. Evolutionarily, ful- as a bound morpheme contributed to nuanced senses, from “full” as a spatial attribute to “fullness” as a broader state. First known modern attestations appear in 15th–16th century texts, consolidating into common usage by the 17th century as a standard noun.
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💡 These words have similar meanings to "fulness" and can often be used interchangeably.
🔄 These words have opposite meanings to "fulness" and show contrast in usage.
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Words that rhyme with "fulness"
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