stress
UK /ˈstɹɛs/ · US /stɹɛs/ noun, verb
Forms stresses stressing stressed
- noun (biology) A physical, chemical, infective agent aggressing an organism.
- noun (biology) Aggression toward an organism resulting in a response in an attempt to restore previous conditions.
- noun (countable, physics) The internal distribution of force across a small boundary per unit area of that boundary (pressure) within a body. It causes strain or deformation and is typically symbolised by σ or τ.
- noun (countable, physics) Force externally applied to a body which cause internal stress within the body.
- noun (uncountable) Emotional pressure suffered by a human being or other animal. “Go easy on him, he's been under a lot of stress lately.”
- noun (countable, phonetics, loosely) A suprasegmental feature of a language having additional attention raised to a sound, word or word group by means of of loudness, duration or pitch; phonological prominence. “lexical stress”
- noun (countable, phonetics, strictly) The suprasegmental feature of a language having additional attention raised to a sound by means of loudness and/or duration; phonological prominence phonetically achieved by means of dynamics as distinct from pitch.
- noun (uncountable) Emphasis placed on a particular point in an argument or discussion (whether spoken or written).
- verb (transitive) To apply force to (a body or structure) causing strain.
- verb (transitive) To apply emotional pressure to (a person or animal).
- verb (intransitive, informal) To suffer stress; to worry or be agitated.
- verb (transitive) To emphasise (a syllable of a word). ““Emphasis” is stressed on the first syllable, but “emphatic” is stressed on the second.”
- verb (transitive) To emphasise (words in speaking).
- verb (transitive) To emphasise (a point) in an argument or discussion. “I must stress that this information is given in strict confidence.”
Synonyms
emphasis accent stress accent emphasise emphasize underline tension tenseness focus strain punctuate accentuate try
Antonyms
Etymology
From a shortening of Middle English destresse, borrowed from Old French destrecier, from Latin distringō (“to stretch out”). This form probably coalesced with Middle English stresse, from Old French estrece (“narrowness”), from Vulgar Latin *strictia, from Latin strictus (“narrow”). Displaced native Old English swēġ (“accent, stress”), though strictly in the grammatical sense.
In the sense of "mental strain" or “disruption”, used occasionally in the 1920s and 1930s by psychologists, including Walter Cannon (1934); in “biological threat”, used by endocrinologist Hans Selye, by metaphor with stress in physics (force on an object) in the 1930s, and popularized by same in the 1950s.
Webster’s 1913
- noun Distress. [Obs.]
- noun Pressure, strain; --used chiefly of immaterial things; except in mechanics; hence, urgency; importance; weight; significance.
- verb To press; to urge; to distress; to put to difficulties. [R.]
- verb To subject to stress, pressure, or strain.
Etymology [Abbrev. fr. distress; or cf. OF. estrecier to press, pinch, (assumed) LL. strictiare, fr. L. strictus. See Distress.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “stress”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details