How to spell pressure

hear itpres·sure/'prɛʃər/nounSilent and tricky

What it means: The force produced when something pushes against something else.

In a sentence: The pressure in the balloon made it float in the air.

The part people get wrong

Watch for double s, and an unstressed vowel that is hard to hear. Often misspelled as preasure or presure.

Same family: pressed, pressing, pressured, pressure (noun), pressurize. If you can spell one, the shared part carries to the others.

Where it comes from: “Pressure” comes from the Latin root *premere*, meaning “to press” or “to push down.” Over time, English extended the idea from physical pushing to social or emotional pushing, like pressuring someone to do something.

Patterns it uses: The unstressed vowel (schwa)

Try spelling it

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