Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

spread the word

Word Rarity Uncommon

Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.68 in modern English

Syllables: spread- the -word
IPA

23

Scrabble Score

13

Letters

3

Syllables

10

Unique Chars

Meaning

verb

To tell a lot of people; to inform as many people as one can.

Example Sentences

"His rendition of Herr Barkheimer was so awful that many people thought it to be a drawing of a demon coming to steal their souls. They threw the books into the fire to save themselves, then spread the word not to buy anything printed by Gutenberg."
"A famous example of viral marketing is the rapid spread of Hotmail as a free email service. Attached to each email was a short advertisement and Hotmail's URL, and customers spread the word about Hotmail simply by emailing their family and friends."

Inflected Forms

spreads the word (present, singular) spreading the word (participle, present)

Frequently Paired Words

preach campaign pass on

Questions

What does spread the word mean?: To tell a lot of people; to inform as many people as one can.

How to pronounce spread the word

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “spread the word”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling () so you know which sounds to aim for.
Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “spread the word”.
Repeat and practice — Say “spread the word” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.