with-DRAW-uhlz
/wɪθˈdɹɔəlz/
withdrawals is pronounced with-DRAW-uhlz (/wɪθˈdɹɔəlz/). Withdrawals refers to the act or process of taking money or assets out of an account, or the symptoms experienced when someone stops using a addictive substance or activity. It can also describe abrupt removal or retreat from a position or policy. In banking, it denotes funds removed; in medical and behavioral contexts, it denotes distressing physiological or psychological reactions upon cessation. The term is used across finance, medicine, and everyday language.
Withdrawals refers to the act or process of taking money or assets out of an account, or the symptoms experienced when someone stops using a addictive substance or activity. It can also describe abrupt removal or retreat from a position or policy. In banking, it denotes funds removed; in medical and behavioral contexts, it denotes distressing physiological or psychological reactions upon cessation. The term is used across finance, medicine, and everyday language.
"The ATMs recorded several withdrawals from the savings account over the weekend."
"He experienced withdrawal symptoms after stopping caffeine for a week."
"The bank flagged suspicious withdrawals as potential fraud."
Say wih-DRɔː-lz with the primary stress on the second syllable. Begin with a short, unstressed /ɪ/ in the first syllable, then a strong /ˈdrɔː/ cluster where /d/ and /r/ combine to form a noisy onset, followed by the schwa-less or reduced final /lz/. In IPA: US wɪˈdrɔː.lz; UK wɪˈdrɔː.lɒlz. Keep the /dr/ tightly blended and finish with a light /l/ plus /z/, not a separate vowel.
Common mistakes include misplacing stress on the first syllable (wɪˈdrɔː.lz or ˈwɪðdrɔː/), pronouncing the /dr/ as two separate elements with a long pause (d r) instead of a compact cluster, and softening the final /lz/ to an /l/ or /z/ alone. Correct by practicing the exact /dr/ blend without vowel intrusion, and by linking the final /lz/ as a single unit: wɪˈdrɔː.lz.
US tends to /wɪˈdrɔː.lz/ with a rhotic r and a clear, long /ɔː/ vowel in the second syllable. UK typically /wɪˈdrɔː.lɒlz/ or /-ləz/ with non-rhotic r; AU mirrors US vowels but with slight Australian vowel flattening and a stronger final /z/ or /lz/ depending on region. The main difference lies in vowel quality and rhoticity; the consonants remain the same.
The difficulty comes from the tight /dr/ consonant cluster after a stressed syllable and the transition from a front lax vowel /ɪ/ to a back open /ɔː/ before /lz/. The sequence /ˈdr/ can be tricky if your tongue isn’t ready, and the final /lz/ requires precise voicing and a rapid lip closure. Practice by isolating /dr/ and doing connected drills until the cluster feels smooth.
No. In standard pronunciation, the plural suffix -s after /lz/ is realized as a voiceless /z/ or a light /ɪz/ in some accents, but in withdrawals the final /lz/ is a syllabic ending and the -s contributes a small z sound immediately after the /l/. So it’s effectively one sound cluster at the end: /lz/ with the voicing of the following /z/ aiding the final syllable. In careful speech you hear the terminal /lz/ as a single sequence, not a separate syllable.
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Withdrawal comes from old English withdrawan, composed of the prefix withe- (an alteration of under, away) and -withdrawan (to draw back, pull back). The verb withdraw has long meant to pull back or remove. The noun withdrawal appeared later to describe the act of pulling funds from a bank or the act of retreating or drawing back from an obligation or habit. The term likely entered Middle English with the sense of drawing something away from a container or source, then extended metaphorically to removing money from an account, and to the medically related sense of retreating from a substance or behavior. Earliest usages in legal and financial texts denoted the act of drawing funds by order or compulsion, evolving during the late medieval and early modern periods as banking systems formalized. By the 19th and 20th centuries, withdrawal had become a standard term in finance for cash taking and in medicine for cessation syndromes, with the word increasingly embedded in everyday language, including phrases like withdrawal symptoms or withdrawal from a position. The plural form withdrawals is common in financial documentation and general use when referring to multiple instances of funds removal or multiple episodes of cessation symptoms.
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Words that rhyme with "withdrawals"
-lls sounds
-ows sounds
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