stress

1. 1.

   to stress, single out as important

   “Dr. Jones emphasizes exercise in addition to a change in diet”

   Synonymsemphasizeemphasisepunctuateaccentaccentuate

   Broaderexpress

   Narrowerbackgroundbring outre-emphasisebear downtopicalizepoint updrive homeunderscore
2. 2.

   put stress on; utter with an accent

   “In Farsi, you accent the last syllable of each word”

   Synonymsaccentaccentuate

   Broaderpronounce
3. 3.

   test the limits of

   “You are trying my patience!”

   Synonymstrystrain

   Broaderafflict

   Narrowerrack

Other forms of stress

plural

stresses·

past tense

stressed·

present participle

stressing·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about stress

What does stress mean?

stress means "the relative prominence of a syllable or musical note (especially with regard to stress or pitch)". That is the primary sense; the word has 8 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in stress?

stress has 1 syllable: stress. In IPA it is /ˈstɹɛs/.

What is another word for stress?

Close synonyms include emphasis, accent, tension, tenseness, focus. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is stress a common word?

stress is banded "Common" — everyday vocabulary in speech and writing. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.

What rhymes with stress?

1 word rhymes with stress. Rhymes are matched on the phonemes from the last stressed vowel onward, which is the definition a reader has in their head.