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phonetic alphabet

The phonetic alphabet is a set of symbols or codes used to show what a speech sound or letter sounds like.

(noun)

An example of the phonetic alphabet is the world "special" shown as spe∫∂l.

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See phonetic alphabet in Webster's New World College Dictionary

a set of symbols used in phonetic transcription, having a separate symbol for every speech sound that can be distinguished

See phonetic alphabet in American Heritage Dictionary 4

noun
  1. A standardized set of symbols used in phonetic transcription.
  2. Any of various systems of code words for identifying letters in voice communication.

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