Interviewees (noun, plural) are people who have been interviewed, typically in a formal setting, and are awaiting or have completed an interview. The term emphasizes the individuals who responded to questions or were assessed by interviewers. It is used in journalism, research, and hiring contexts to distinguish participants from interviewers and observers.
- Misplacing primary stress: People often put stress on the wrong syllable (e.g., in-TER-vyoo-ees) leading to unnatural rhythm. Fix: keep primary stress on the third syllable (-VIEW-). - Dropping or shortening the /juː/ glide: Some speakers truncate /juː/ to /j/ or /uː/ making it /vjuː/ into /vuː/. Practice: clearly pronounce /vjuː/ as a single glide from /v/ to /juː/. - Final cluster sloppiness: The -ees can be pronounced as /iz/ or /iːz/; ensure final sound is /iːz/ not /ɪz/; avoid devoicing the final vowel.
- US: stress on VIEW syllable, final /iːz/ is clear; rhotics may color preceding vowels (e.g., in-tuh-VYOO-eez). - UK: non-rhotic, /r/ not pronounced; keep /vjuː/ intact; final /iːz/ is crisp. - AU: similar to UK with slightly broader vowel qualities; maintain /vjuː/ glide; final /iːz/ long.
"The interviewees answered a series of tricky questions about their experiences."
"Several interviewees spoke on the record about the company’s culture."
"The panel compared the interviewees’ responses before making a final decision."
"We invited all interviewees to provide feedback about the process."
Interviewee is formed from interview (a formal questioning or conversation to obtain information) plus the suffix -ee, which denotes the person who is the recipient or beneficiary of an action. The word interview derives from Old French entrevue (a meeting, encounter) from entre (between) + voir (to see). In English, interview evolved in the sense of a formal questioning session in the 17th–18th centuries, with early usage around discussions with people seeking employment or giving testimonies. The plural interviewees appears in the late 19th to early 20th century as hiring and media practices expanded. The -ee suffix creates a noun indicating a person who experiences the action, so interviewee refers to the person who is being interviewed, while interviewers are those who perform the questioning. Today, interviewees are a standard term in HR, journalism, and research reporting. The word has retained its core meaning across varieties of English, though pronunciation shifts in stress and phoneme realization can occur regionally. First known use records appear in 19th-century English editorial or business contexts, then proliferated with modern interviewing practices in media and academia.
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💡 These words have similar meanings to "Interviewees" and can often be used interchangeably.
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Words that rhyme with "Interviewees"
-ers sounds
Practice with these rhyming pairs to improve your pronunciation consistency:
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Pronounce as in-ter-VYOO-ez, with three primary beats: in- (weak), -ter- (stressed), VYOO- (the main stress on view) and -ees as /iːz/ or /iːz/. IPA: US ˌɪn.təˈvjuː.iːz, UK ˌɪn.təˈvjuː.iːz, AU ˌɪn.təˈvjuː.iːz. Start with a light schwa in the first syllable, then a clear /v/ plus /juː/ glide, and end with /iːz/. Touch on the “view” portion as a long /uː/ preceded by a /v/.
Common errors: misplacing stress on the second syllable or producing /ɪn.tɛr-ˈiːz/ or /ˌɪn.təˈviːz/. Another mistake is reducing the /juː/ to /ju/ or skipping the /v/ sound, leading to /ɪn.təˈiːz/. Correction: emphasize the /vjuː/ sequence after /n t/ with a distinct /v/ and the /juː/ glide before the final /iːz/. Keep the final -ees as /iːz/ rather than /ɪz/.
In US, you’ll hear medial /ˈvjuː/ with a clear /juː/ before /ɪz/, and rhoticity applies to preceding syllables. UK often preserves a slightly stronger /juː/ after /v/, with non-rhoticity affecting r-colouring only in non-rhotic variants; /vjuː/ remains. Australian typically aligns with non-rhotic tendencies but may have a broader vowel in the /iːz/, and the /juː/ is slightly more centralized. Across accents, stress remains on the third syllable. IPA references reflect: US ˌɪn.təˈvjuː.iːz, UK ˌɪn.təˈvjuː.iːz, AU ˌɪn.təˈvjuː.iːz.
The difficulty lies in the cluster /təˈvjuː/ where the /t/ links to a liquid and glide /vjuː/ that can blur into /tVOO/ for non-native speakers. Additionally, the three-syllable rhythm with a secondary emphasis on the /ˈvjuː/ syllable can frustrate learners who expect simpler two-syllable words. Pay attention to the /ˈvjuː/ sequence and the final /iːz/ to avoid turning it into /iːz/ or /ɪz/.
There are no silent letters in interviewees, but the challenge is the stress and the subtle /ɪ/ vs /ɪə/ in rapid speech. The word keeps the /ˈvjuː/ mid-stress cluster and maintains a final long /iːz/. A nuance: in fast speech the first syllable can reduce to /ɪn/ or even /ən/; the key is preserving the voiced /v/ and the /juː/ glide before the final /iːz/.
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- Shadowing: listen to native readings of interviewees, imitate exact timing and intonation; start slow, then increase pace. - Minimal pairs: practice with interviewees vs interview-ees? Actually, minimal pairs with similar sounds: interview vs interviewee to isolate final -eez. - Rhythm: mark three syllables with the stress pattern in-ter-VIEW-ees; practice clapping to 1-2-3-4 counts, aligning stress. - Speed progression: slow (very careful), normal (natural pace), fast (read aloud with context). - Recording: record yourself reading sentences about interviewees and compare with a native speaker.
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