---
title: "How to pronounce \"testing the waters\" in English | SayItVid"
description: "Learn how to say \"testing the waters\" correctly. Watch real-life video examples and master your English pronunciation with SayItVid."
image: "https://img.youtube.com/vi/o-g8PsXR9Fw/hqdefault.jpg"
url: "https://sayitvid.com/pronounce/testing-the-waters"
---


# How to pronounce "testing the waters" in English

## Pronunciation & Phonetics

- **IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet)**: `/tɛstɪngθɛwætɛrs/`
- **Syllable Breakdown**: **te·stin·gthe·wa·ters**

## Real-Life Native Speaker Examples (15 Video Clips)

Listen to native speakers pronounce "testing the waters" in real conversation:

### Example 1
> "trying to do something about it do you think it's realistic that this perhaps could have been even for lack of a better term a prank by Al-Qaeda sort of testing the waters and this is actually another reason to believe that they're doing a pretty good job because if they are talking on mobile phones that are easily traced by American intelligence CIA then they are probably like bluffing"
- **Jump to Video Timestamp**: [Watch on YouTube at 5:51](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-g8PsXR9Fw&t=351s)

### Example 2
> "ourselves so seriously risk-taking and showing differentiated content while World Chase tag was finally testing the waters of broadcast TV competition emerged all right Sean your time to beat is two minutes and 11 seconds and the tagger you'll be up against is your Nemesis Dynamite Christian refused to gamify his sport"
- **Jump to Video Timestamp**: [Watch on YouTube at 20:22](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wxks-oaNSYA&t=1222s)

### Example 3
> "testing the waters there's always been a big question if his grandfather actually had any influence on it or not I'm not entirely sure he did but he never knew"
- **Jump to Video Timestamp**: [Watch on YouTube at 2:58](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXOal8C-CWA&t=178s)

### Example 4
> "testing the waters of what this could mean for the conservative CDU as a whole. It was the declared aim of the far-right AfD party to split, to destroy"
- **Jump to Video Timestamp**: [Watch on YouTube at 5:18](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rqr741R2syQ&t=318s)

### Example 5
> "And testing the waters for what else we are going to be distracted with in our quest for our own particular interests; right?"
- **Jump to Video Timestamp**: [Watch on YouTube at 10:28](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfGXXBVvILY&t=628s)

### Example 6
> "I'm buying t-shirts? But my dad just knew from the off. I I guess none of us really knew the potential in YouTube back in the day. We were all just sort of testing the waters and just having fun. But I feel like my dad kind of had an idea that I he he trusted that I saw something in it even if he didn't. So I"
- **Jump to Video Timestamp**: [Watch on YouTube at 9:06](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DV6I5hK6ro&t=546s)

### Example 7
> "openly you know willing to talk to the Iranian side but also vice-versa we have been signal you know we have seen signals of or the Iranian Iran is basically testing the waters in terms of how far they can go in terms of negotiating and and what to negotiate about but what is still is what is still lacking is the green light from the Supreme Leader of Iran who is you know that is indispensable in terms of any kind of new you know decisions and"
- **Jump to Video Timestamp**: [Watch on YouTube at 22:08](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PBSJ0vEnFo&t=1328s)

### Example 8
> "clearly not being very impressed by this. So the rhetorics have been um quite hard and this I think the assumption is should be seen as kind of Russia testing the waters uh towards what the Danish response will be for instance if uh critical infrastructure is targeted and as part of this response I mean Denmark is is or has reached out to the UN and NATO to discuss this issue. What kind of help or support might uh Denmark"
- **Jump to Video Timestamp**: [Watch on YouTube at 4:25](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdV7hT0tI50&t=265s)

### Example 9
> "against there was a good amount of initial opposition to this idea and now of course um the idea of a state imposed app has been withdrawn. So do you think the government was perhaps testing the waters in terms of internet freedom? Well, government has said that they they were testing the waters, but it's the digital advocates or digital people who believe in the internet freedom or like"
- **Jump to Video Timestamp**: [Watch on YouTube at 3:15](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEYFgOk57u0&t=195s)

### Example 10
> "Las Vegas is testing the waters over in maau half a world away once again as it tries to raise money to revive Casino projects Monica betran has the details and what I believe is Las Vegas SS is that right mon abolutely it is Eric and with credit markets thawing and gambling picking up in maau Las Vegas Sams as you"
- **Jump to Video Timestamp**: [Watch on YouTube at 0:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2W80V-gPTNU&t=0s)


## Related Words & Synonyms

- **Nearby Vocabulary**: [testing](https://sayitvid.com/pronounce/testing), [waters](https://sayitvid.com/pronounce/waters)

## Frequently Asked Questions

### How do you pronounce "testing the waters" correctly?
"testing the waters" is pronounced `/tɛstɪngθɛwætɛrs/`. Syllable breakdown: **te·stin·gthe·wa·ters**.

### What does "testing the waters" mean in context?
Refer to real speech examples in the video clips above to observe how native speakers use "testing the waters" in daily English.

```json
{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@graph": [
    {
      "@type": "WebPage",
      "@id": "https://sayitvid.com/pronounce/testing-the-waters#webpage",
      "url": "https://sayitvid.com/pronounce/testing-the-waters",
      "name": "How to pronounce \"testing the waters\" in English | SayItVid",
      "description": "Learn how to say \"testing the waters\" correctly. Watch real-life video examples and master your English pronunciation with SayItVid.",
      "inLanguage": "en-US"
    },
    {
      "@type": "DefinedTerm",
      "@id": "https://sayitvid.com/pronounce/testing-the-waters#definedterm",
      "name": "testing the waters",
      "description": "Learn how to say \"testing the waters\" correctly. Watch real-life video examples and master your English pronunciation with SayItVid.",
      "inDefinedTermSet": "https://sayitvid.com/browse"
    },
    {
      "@type": "VideoObject",
      "@id": "https://sayitvid.com/pronounce/testing-the-waters#video-o-g8PsXR9Fw",
      "name": "How to pronounce \"testing the waters\" in English",
      "description": "Watch a native speaker pronounce \"testing the waters\": \"testing the waters and this is actually another reason to believe that they're doing a pretty good job because if they are talking on mobile phones that are\"",
      "thumbnailUrl": [
        "https://img.youtube.com/vi/o-g8PsXR9Fw/maxresdefault.jpg",
        "https://img.youtube.com/vi/o-g8PsXR9Fw/hqdefault.jpg"
      ],
      "contentUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-g8PsXR9Fw&t=353s",
      "embedUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/embed/o-g8PsXR9Fw?start=353"
    }
  ]
}
```
