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I encounter these two words pretty often, both orally and in writing. What is the difference between two, and how to pronounce, say in USA?

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    US Pronunciation: urbane = "er-BAYN" [ɚˈbeɪn], urban = "ER-buhn" [ˈɝ bən]. Note that the words have stress on different syllables.
    – Kosmonaut
    Commented Jan 9, 2011 at 2:25

3 Answers 3

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Urbane has a more subjective meaning. Urban means something that relates to the city, while urbane describes a level of sophistication and elegance that supposedly would be typical for city folk.

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urban means posh and well developed, of course, talking about a city while urbane has more to do with his mannerisms- reflecting sophistication and class.

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Urban is more city related, whereas urbane refers to the manners of the people in a city.

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