ACCENT


Meaning of ACCENT in English

[ac.cent] vt [MF accenter, fr. accent intonation, fr. L accentus, fr. ad- + cantus song--more at chant] (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

[2]ac.cent n (1538) 1: a distinctive manner of expression: as a: an individual's distinctive or characteristic inflection, tone, or choice of words--usu. used in pl. b: a way of speaking typical of a particular group of people and esp. of the natives or residents of a region

2: an articulative effort giving prominence to one syllable over adjacent syllables; also: the prominence thus given a syllable

3: rhythmically significant stress on the syllables of a verse usu. at regular intervals

4. archaic: utterance

5. a: a mark (as an acute mark, grave, or circumflex) 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; esp: 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 usu. slightly above it: as a: a double prime b: prime 9: special concern or attention: emphasis "an ~ on youth" -- ac.cent.less adj

Merriam-Webster English vocab.      Английский словарь Merriam Webster.