noun distress.
2. stress ·vt to subject to stress, pressure, or strain.
3. stress ·noun distress; the act of distraining; also, the thing distrained.
4. stress ·add. ·vt to place emphasis on; to make emphatic; emphasize.
5. stress ·add. ·vt to subject to phonetic stress; to accent.
6. stress ·vt to press; to urge; to distress; to put to difficulties.
7. stress ·noun pressure, strain;
used chiefly of immaterial things; except in mechanics; hence, urgency; importance; weight; significance.
8. stress ·noun force of utterance expended upon words or syllables. stress is in english the chief element in accent and is one of the most important in emphasis. ·see guide to pronunciation, // 31-35.
9. stress ·noun the force, or combination of forces, which produces a strain; force exerted in any direction or manner between contiguous bodies, or parts of bodies, and taking specific names according to its direction, or mode of action, as thrust or pressure, pull or tension, shear or tangential stress.