Definitions for: Accent


[n] distinctive manner of oral expression; "he couldn't suppress his contemptuous accent"; "she had a very clear speech pattern"
[n] a diacritical mark used to indicate stress or (in some languages) placed above a vowel to indicate a special pronunciation
[n] the relative prominence of a syllable or musical note (especially with regard to stress or pitch); "he put the stress on the wrong syllable"
[n] 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"
[n] special importance or significance; "the red light gave the central figure increased emphasis"; "the room was decorated in shades of gray with distinctive red accents"
[v] put stress on; utter with an accent; "In Farsi, you accent the last syllable of each word"
[v] to stress, single out as important; "Dr. Jones emphasizes exercise in addition to a change in diet."



Webster (1913) Definition: 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.


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.

Synonyms: accent mark, accentuate, dialect, emphasis, emphasis, emphasise, emphasize, idiom, punctuate, speech pattern, stress, stress

See Also: accentuation, acute, acute accent, ague, articulate, background, bear down, bring out, diacritic, diacritical mark, downplay, drawl, drive home, enounce, enunciate, evince, express, focus, grandness, grave, grave accent, importance, inflection, non-standard speech, patois, pitch accent, play down, point up, press home, pronounce, pronunciation, prosody, ram home, re-emphasise, re-emphasize, say, sentence stress, set off, show, sound out, stress, stress mark, tonic accent, underline, underscore, word accent, word stress

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