1. (

• stress ,
• emphasis ,
• accent

) the relative prominence of a syllable or musical note (especially with regard to stress or pitch); "he put the stress on the wrong syllable" ;

2. (

• tension ,
• tenseness ,
• stress ,

) (psychology) a state of mental or emotional strain or suspense; "he suffered from fatigue and emotional tension"; "stress is a vasoconstrictor" ;

3. (

• stress ,
• focus ,

) special emphasis attached to something; "the stress was more on accuracy than on speed" ;

4. (

• stress ,
• strain ,

) difficulty that causes worry or emotional tension; "she endured the stresses and strains of life"; "he presided over the economy during the period of the greatest stress and danger"- R.J.Samuelson ;

5. (

• stress

) (physics) force that produces strain on a physical body; "the intensity of stress is expressed in units of force divided by units of area" ;

1. (

• stress ,
• emphasize ,
• emphasise ,
• punctuate ,
• accent ,
• accentuate

) to stress, single out as important; "Dr. Jones emphasizes exercise in addition to a change in diet" ;

2. (

• stress ,
• accent ,
• accentuate ,

) put stress on; utter with an accent; "In Farsi, you accent the last syllable of each word" ;

3. (

• try ,
• strain ,
• stress

) test the limits of; "You are trying my patience!" ;