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Not to be accounted for; inexplicable; not consonant with reason or rule; strange; mysterious. -- Un`ac*count"a*ble*ness}, n. -- Un`ac*count"a*bly, adv.

Irresolute; inconsonant; variable; untrustworthy; as, an uncertain person; an uncertain breeze. O woman! in our hours of ease, Uncertain, coy, and hard to please! Sir W. Scott.

Of the same form with others; agreeing with each other; conforming to one rule or mode; consonant. The only doubt is . . . how far churches are bound to be uniform in their ceremonies. Hooker. Uniform matter, that which is all of the same kind and texture; homogenous matter. -- Uniform motion, the motion of a body whe…

V, the twenty-second letter of the English alphabet, is a vocal consonant. V and U are only varieties of the same character, U being the cursive form, while V is better adapted for engraving, as in stone. The two letters were formerly used indiscriminately, and till a comparatively recent date words containing them wer…

Having the place of articulation on the soft palate; guttural; as, the velar consonants, such as k and hard q.

ither by resonance, as in the case of the vowels, or by obstructive action, as in certain consonants, such as v, l, etc., or by both, as in the nasals m, n, ng; sonant; intonated; voiced. See Voice, and Vowel, also Guide to Pronunciation, §§ 199-202.

Sound of the kind or quality heard in speech or song in the consonants b, v, d, etc., and in the vowels; sonant, or intonated, utterance; tone; -- distinguished from mere breath sound as heard in f, s, sh, etc., and also whisper.

of a sound uttered with the glottis narrowed. Voiced stop, Voice stop (Phon.), a stopped consonant made with tone from the larynx while the mouth organs are closed at some point; a sonant mute, as b, d, g hard.

Not sounded with voice; as, a voiceless consonant; surd. Voiceless stop (Phon.), a consonant made with no audible sound except in the transition to or from another sound; a surd mute, as p, t, k. -- Voice"less*ly, adv. -- Voice"less*ness, n.

vowel its distinctive character or quality as a sound of speech; -- distinguished from a consonant in that the latter, whether made with or without vocality, derives its character in every case from some kind of obstructive action by the mouth organs. Also, a letter or character which represents such a sound. See Guid…

W, the twenty-third letter of the English alphabet, is usually a consonant, but sometimes it is a vowel, forming the second element of certain diphthongs, as in few, how. It takes its written form and its name from the repetition of a V, this being the original form of the Roman capital letter which we call U. Etymolog…

inning of a word or syllable, except when a prefix (see Y-), is usually a fricative vocal consonant; as a prefix, and usually in the middle or at the end of a syllable, it is a vowel. See Guide to Pronunciation, §§ 145, 178-9, 272.

Z, the twenty-sixth and last letter of the English alphabet, is a vocal consonant. It is taken from the Latin letter Z, which came from the Greek alphabet, this having it from a Semitic source. The ultimate origin is probably Egyptian. Etymologically, it is most closely related to s, y, and j; as in glass, glaze; E. yo…