Word Confusion: Annunciate versus Enunciate

Posted October 26, 2021 by Kathy Davie in Author Resources, Self-Editing, Word Confusions, Writing

Pinterest pin for Annunciate versus Enunciate

A friend keeps confusing annunciate with enunciate until I couldn’t take it anymore.

It’s mostly the fault of Siri who fails to appreciate how this friend enunciates their words when they annunciate.

Both words are verbs.

To annunciate is to announce. The most famous announcement is the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary when the angel Gabriel told Mary she would conceive a son through a virgin birth. Yep, it’s an announcement, a noun, a derivative of annunciate.

I’m guessing that even though Gabriel annunciated the news to Mary, that he also enunciated it well, so she’d clearly hear every word.

Word Confusions . . .

. . . started as my way of dealing with a professional frustration with properly spelled words that were out of context in manuscripts I was editing as well as books I was reviewing. It evolved into a sharing of information with y’all. I’m hoping you’ll share with us words that have been a bête noir for you from either end.

If you found this post on “Annunciate versus Enunciate” interesting, consider tweeting it to your friends. Subscribe to KD Did It, if you’d like to track this post for future updates.

Return to top

Annunciate	Enunciate
The Annunciation is a woodblock print created by Hans Wechtlin, which is in the public domain, via Picryl and courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum. — Yep, that’s Gabriel annunciating the news to the Virgin Mary.	Help Point by Thomas Nugent is under the CC BY-SA 2.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons. It was uploaded by GeographBot and is courtesy of Geograph.org.uk. — To enunciate is one of the points of this sign.
Part of Grammar:
Verb, transitive Third person present verb: annunciates Past tense or past participle: annunciated Gerund or present participle: annunciating	Verb, intransitive & transitive Third person present verb: enunciates Past tense or past participle: enunciated Gerund or present participle: enunciating
[Archaic] To announce (something)	Verb, intransitive: To pronounce words, especially in an articulate or a particular manner Articulate Verb, transitive: Say or pronounce clearly Express (a proposition, theory, etc.) in clear or definite terms Proclaim
Examples:
George Bush developed a policy, he annunciated it in a magnificent speech 10 days after 9/11, and then he went into a war in Afghanistan that everybody thought was going to be impossible. Just because Corn says he shares our beliefs, I hold to another set of beliefs, first annunciated by James Carville, that “I don’t work for racists”. Next, why the nation’s largest union is vehemently opposed to private accounts and Social Security reform, as annunciated so far by President Bush.	Verb, intransitive: She enunciates very slowly and carefully. Cameron cleared her throat and fought to enunciate, but her words still came out a scratchy drawl. I enunciated carefully, hoping that Barney Lewis’ admonition about clear speaking would now have some magical effect. Verb, transitive: She enunciated each word slowly. He enunciates his words distinctly. There is a written document enunciating this policy. He was a prophet enunciating the Lord’s wisdom. One should enunciate one’s intentions.
Derivatives:
Adjective: annunciable, annunciative, annunciatory, unannunciable, unannunciative Noun: annunciation	Adjective: enunciable, enunciative, enunciatory Adverb: enunciatively Noun: enunciability, enunciation, enunciator
History of the Word:
Late Middle English (originally as a past participle), is from the medieval Latin annunciat-, a variant spelling of the Latin annuntiat– meaning announced, from the verb annuntiare.	Mid-16th century, as enunciation, is from the Latin enuntiat- meaning announced clearly, from the verb enuntiare, from e- (a variant of ex-) (out) + nuntiare (announce), from nuntius meaning messenger.

Return to top

C’mon, get it out of your system, bitch, whine, moan . . . which words are your pet peeves? Also, please note that I try to be as accurate as I can, but mistakes happen or I miss something. Email me if you find errors, so I can fix them . . . and we’ll all benefit!

Satisfy your curiosity about other Word Confusions on its homepage or more generally explore the index of self-editing posts. You may also want to explore Book Layout & Formatting Ideas, Formatting Tips, Grammar Explanations, Linguistics, Publishing Tips, the Properly Punctuated, Writing Ideas and Resources, and Working Your Website.

Return to top