Adjacent Words

Accent definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

AC'CENT, n. [L. accentus, from ad and cano, cantum, to sing; See Accend.]
1. The modulation of the voice in reading or speaking, as practiced by the ancient Greeks, which rendered their rehearsal musical. More strictly, in English,
2. A particular stress or force of voice upon certain syllables of words, which distinguishes them from the others. Accent is of two kinds, primary and secondary; as in as'pira'tion. In uttering this word, we observe the first and third syllables are distinguished; the third by a full sound, which constitutes the primary accent; the first by a degree of force in the voice which is less than that of the primary accent, but evidently greater than that which falls on the second and fourth syllables.
When the full accent falls on a vowel, that vowel has its long sound, as in vo'cal; but when it falls on an articulation or consonant, the preceding vowel is short, as in hab'it. Accent alone regulates English verse.
3. A mark or character used in writing to direct the stress of the voice in pronunciation. Our ancestors borrowed from the Greek language three of these characters, the acute, the grave and circumflex. In the Greek, the first shows when the voice is to be raised; the second, when it is to be depressed; and the third, when the vowel is to be uttered with an undulating sound.
4. A modulation of the voice expressive of passions or sentiments.
The tender accents of a woman's cry.
5. Manner of speaking.
A man of plain accent. Obs.
6. Poetically, words, language, or expressions in general.
Words, on your wings, to heaven her accents bear,
Such words as heaven alone is fit to hear.
7. In music, a swelling of sounds, for the purpose of variety or expression. the principal accent falls on the first note in the bar, but the third place in common time requires also an accent.
8. A peculiar tone or inflection of voice.
AC'CENT, v.t. To express accent; to utter a syllable with a particular stress or modulation of the voice. In poetry, to utter or pronounce in general. Also to note accents by marks in writing.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: distinctive manner of oral expression; "he couldn't suppress his contemptuous accent"; "she had a very clear speech pattern" [syn: accent, speech pattern]
2: special importance or significance; "the red light gave the central figure increased emphasis"; "the room was decorated in shades of grey with distinctive red accents" [syn: emphasis, accent]
3: the usage or vocabulary that is characteristic of a specific group of people; "the immigrants spoke an odd dialect of English"; "he has a strong German accent"; "it has been said that a language is a dialect with an army and navy" [syn: dialect, idiom, accent]
4: the relative prominence of a syllable or musical note (especially with regard to stress or pitch); "he put the stress on the wrong syllable" [syn: stress, emphasis, accent]
5: a diacritical mark used to indicate stress or placed above a vowel to indicate a special pronunciation [syn: accent, accent mark] v
1: to stress, single out as important; "Dr. Jones emphasizes exercise in addition to a change in diet" [syn: stress, emphasize, emphasise, punctuate, accent, accentuate]
2: put stress on; utter with an accent; "In Farsi, you accent the last syllable of each word" [syn: stress, accent, accentuate]

Merriam Webster's

I. transitive verb Etymology: Middle French accenter, from accent intonation, from Latin accentus, from ad- + cantus song — more at chant Date: 1530 1. a. to pronounce with accent ; stress b. to mark with a written or printed accent 2. to give prominence to ; make more prominent II. noun Date: 1530 1. an articulative effort giving prominence to one syllable over adjacent syllables; also the prominence thus given a syllable 2. a distinctive manner of expression: as a. an individual's distinctive or characteristic inflection, tone, or choice of words — usually used in plural b. a way of speaking typical of a particular group of people and especially of the natives or residents of a region 3. rhythmically significant stress on the syllables of a verse usually at regular intervals 4. archaic utterance 5. a. a mark (as ?, ?, ˆ) used in writing or printing to indicate a specific sound value, stress, or pitch, to distinguish words otherwise identically spelled, or to indicate that an ordinarily mute vowel should be pronounced b. an accented letter 6. a. greater stress given to one musical tone than to its neighbors b. accent mark 2 7. a. emphasis laid on a part of an artistic design or composition b. an emphasized detail or area; especially a small detail in sharp contrast with its surroundings c. a substance or object used for emphasis 8. a mark placed to the right of a letter or number and usually slightly above it: as a. a double prime b. prime 9. special concern or attention ; emphasis <an accent on youth> • accentless adjective

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. & v. --n. 1 a particular mode of pronunciation, esp. one associated with a particular region or group (Liverpool accent; German accent; upper-class accent). 2 prominence given to a syllable by stress or pitch. 3 a mark on a letter or word to indicate pitch, stress, or the quality of a vowel. 4 a distinctive feature or emphasis (an accent on comfort). 5 Mus. emphasis on a particular note or chord. --v.tr. 1 pronounce with an accent; emphasize (a word or syllable). 2 write or print accents on (words etc.). 3 accentuate. 4 Mus. play (a note etc.) with an accent. Derivatives: accentual adj. Etymology: L accentus (as AC-, cantus song) repr. Gk prosoidia (PROSODY), or through F accent, accenter

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Accent Ac"cent`, n. [F. accent, L. accentus; ad + cantus a singing, canere to sing. See Cant.] 1. A superior force of voice or of articulative effort upon some particular syllable of a word or a phrase, distinguishing it from the others. Note: Many English words have two accents, the primary and the secondary; the primary being uttered with a greater stress of voice than the secondary; as in as'pira"tion, where the chief stress is on the third syllable, and a slighter stress on the first. Some words, as an'tiap'o-plec"tic, in-com'pre-hen'si-bil"i-ty, have two secondary accents. See Guide to Pron., [th][th] 30-46. 2. A mark or character used in writing, and serving to regulate the pronunciation; esp.: (a) a mark to indicate the nature and place of the spoken accent; (b) a mark to indicate the quality of sound of the vowel marked; as, the French accents. Note: In the ancient Greek the acute accent (') meant a raised tone or pitch, the grave (`), the level tone or simply the negation of accent, the circumflex ( ~ or ^) a tone raised and then depressed. In works on elocution, the first is often used to denote the rising inflection of the voice; the second, the falling inflection; and the third (^), the compound or waving inflection. In dictionaries, spelling books, and the like, the acute accent is used to designate the syllable which receives the chief stress of voice. 3. Modulation of the voice in speaking; manner of speaking or pronouncing; peculiar or characteristic modification of the voice; tone; as, a foreign accent; a French or a German accent. ``Beguiled you in a plain accent.'' --Shak. ``A perfect accent.'' --Thackeray. The tender accent of a woman's cry. --Prior. 4. A word; a significant tone; (pl.) expressions in general; speech. Winds! on your wings to Heaven her accents bear, Such words as Heaven alone is fit to hear. --Dryden. 5. (Pros.) Stress laid on certain syllables of a verse. 6. (Mus.) (a) A regularly recurring stress upon the tone to mark the beginning, and, more feebly, the third part of the measure. (b) A special emphasis of a tone, even in the weaker part of the measure. (c) The rhythmical accent, which marks phrases and sections of a period. (d) The expressive emphasis and shading of a passage. --J. S. Dwight. 7. (Math.) (a) A mark placed at the right hand of a letter, and a little above it, to distinguish magnitudes of a similar kind expressed by the same letter, but differing in value, as y', y[sec]. (b) (Trigon.) A mark at the right hand of a number, indicating minutes of a degree, seconds, etc.; as, 12'27[sec], i. e., twelve minutes twenty seven seconds. (c) (Engin.) A mark used to denote feet and inches; as, 6' 10[sec] is six feet ten inches.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Accent Ac*cent", v. t. [imp. & p. p. Accented; p. pr. & vb. n. Accenting.] [OF. accenter, F. accentuer.] 1. To express the accent of (either by the voice or by a mark); to utter or to mark with accent. 2. To mark emphatically; to emphasize.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(accents) 1. Someone who speaks with a particular accent pronounces the words of a language in a distinctive way that shows which country, region, or social class they come from. He had developed a slight American accent. N-COUNT 2. An accent is a short line or other mark which is written above certain letters in some languages and which indicates the way those letters are pronounced. N-COUNT 3. If you put the accent on a particular feature of something, you emphasize it or give it special importance. He is putting the accent on military readiness... = emphasis N-SING: oft N on n

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. n. 1. Intonation, cadence, tone, modulation of voice. 2. Stress (on a certain syllable), ictus, cadence, tone, beat. II. v. a. Accentuate, lay stress upon, pronounce with accent, put the ictus on.

Moby Thesaurus

Alexandrine, accent mark, accents, accentuate, accentuation, amphibrach, amphimacer, anacrusis, anapest, antispast, arsis, articulation, bacchius, bar, beat, belabor, broad accent, brogue, burr, cadence, caesura, cancel, catalexis, character, chatter, chloriamb, chloriambus, colon, comment, concern, concernment, consequence, consequentiality, consideration, conversation, counterpoint, cretic, custos, dactyl, dactylic hexameter, diacritical mark, diaeresis, dimeter, dipody, direct, discourse, distinguish, dochmiac, dot, drawl, dwell on, elegiac, elegiac couplet, elegiac pentameter, elocution, emphasis, emphasize, epitrite, excellence, expression mark, feminine caesura, fermata, foot, force, gab, give emphasis to, grammatical accent, harp on, heptameter, heptapody, heroic couplet, hexameter, hexapody, high order, high rank, highlight, hold, iamb, iambic, iambic pentameter, ictus, import, importance, inflection, intensity, interest, intonation, intonation pattern, ionic, italicize, jingle, key signature, language, lead, level of stress, ligature, lilt, mark, masculine caesura, materiality, measure, merit, meter, metrical accent, metrical foot, metrical group, metrical unit, metrics, metron, metronomic mark, molossus, moment, mora, movement, notation, note, numbers, oral communication, overaccentuate, overemphasize, overstress, paeon, palaver, paramountcy, parole, pause, pentameter, pentapody, period, pitch accent, place emphasis on, point up, prattle, precedence, preeminence, presa, primacy, primary stress, priority, proceleusmatic, prominence, pronunciation, prosodics, prosody, pulsation, pulse, punctuate, pyrrhic, quantity, rapping, regional accent, rhetorical accent, rhythm, rhythmic pattern, rhythmical accent, rhythmical stress, rub in, secondary stress, segno, self-importance, set apart, set off, sign, signature, significance, slur, speaking, speech, spondee, spotlight, sprung rhythm, star, stress, stress accent, stress arsis, stress pattern, superiority, supremacy, swell, swing, symbol, syzygy, talk, talking, tempo mark, tertiary stress, tetrameter, tetrapody, tetraseme, thesis, throb, tie, time signature, tone, tone accent, tribrach, trimeter, tripody, triseme, trochee, twang, underline, underscore, value, vinculum, weak stress, weight, words, worth, yakkety-yak, yakking