accent

• POS: Noun, Verb (usu participle), Verb (transitive)
• HYPHEN: ac=cent
• COUNT in NET: 2 in 2 verses (in OT : 1 in 1 verses) (in NT : 1 in 1 verses)

CIDE DICTIONARY

accent, n. [F. accent, L. accentus; ad + cantus a singing, canere to sing. See Cant.].

•  A superior force of voice or of articulative effort upon some particular syllable of a word or a phrase, distinguishing it from the others.  [1913 Webster]

  " 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\'b6tion, where the chief stress is on the third syllable, and a slighter stress on the first. Some words, as an′tiap′o-plec\'b6tic, in-com′pre-hen′si-bil\'b6i-ty, have two secondary accents. See Guide to Pron., \'c5\'c5 30-46."  [1913 Webster]
•  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.  [1913 Webster]

  " 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."  [1913 Webster]
•  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.  [1913 Webster]

  "The tender accent of a woman's cry."  [1913 Webster]
•  A word; a significant tone  [1913 Webster]

  "Winds! on your wings to Heaven her accents bear,
  Such words as Heaven alone is fit to hear."  [1913 Webster]
•  Stress laid on certain syllables of a verse.  [1913 Webster]
•  A regularly recurring stress upon the tone to mark the beginning, and, more feebly, the third part of the measure.  J. S. Dwight.  [1913 Webster]
•  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′, y1913 Webster]

accent, v. t. [OF. accenter, F. accentuer.].

•  To express the accent of (either by the voice or by a mark); to utter or to mark with accent.  [1913 Webster]
•  To mark emphatically; to emphasize.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

accent, 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.

Derivative

accentual adj.

Etymology

L accentus (as AC-, cantus song) repr. Gk prosoidia (PROSODY), or through F accent, accenter

THESAURUS

accent

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

ROGET THESAURUS

accent

Neologism

N neology, neologism, newfangled expression, nonce expression, back-formation, caconym, barbarism, archaism, black letter, monkish Latin, corruption, missaying, malapropism, antiphrasis, pun, paranomasia, play upon words, word play, double- entendre, palindrome, paragram, anagram, clinch, abuse of language, abuse of terms, dialect, brogue, idiom, accent, patois, provincialism, regionalism, localism, broken English, lingua franca, Anglicism, Briticism, Gallicism, Scotticism, Hibernicism, Americanism, Gypsy lingo, Romany, pidgin, pidgin English, pigeon English, Volapuk, Chinook, Esperanto, Hindustani, kitchen Kaffir, dog Latin, macaronics, gibberish, confusion of tongues, Babel, babu English, chi-chi, figure of speech, byword, colloquialism, informal speech, informal language, substandard language, vernacular, vulgar language, obscene language, obscenity, vulgarity, jargon, technical terms, technicality, lingo, slang, cant, argot, St. Gile's Greek, thieves' Latin, peddler's French, flash tongue, Billingsgate, Wall Street slang, pseudology, pseudonym, Mr, So-and-so, wha d'ye call 'em, whatchacallim, what's his name, thingummy, thingumbob, je ne sais quoi, neologist, coiner of words, neologic, neological, archaic, obsolete, colloquial, Anglice.

Voice

N voice, vocality, organ, lungs, bellows, good voice, fine voice, powerful voice, musical voice, intonation, tone of voice, vocalization, cry, strain, utterance, prolation, exclamation, ejaculation, vociferation, ecphonesis, enunciation, articulation, articulate sound, distinctness, clearness, of articulation, stage whisper, delivery, accent, accentuation, emphasis, stress, broad accent, strong accent, pure accent, native accent, foreign accent, pronunciation, homonym, orthoepy, cacoepy, euphony, gastriloquism, ventriloquism, ventriloquist, polyphonism, polyphonist, phonology, vocal, phonetic, oral, ejaculatory, articulate, distinct, stertorous, euphonious, how sweetly sounds the voice of a good woman, the organ of the soul, thy voice is a celestial melody.

Sound

N sound, noise, strain, accent, twang, intonation, tone, cadence, sonorousness, audibility, resonance, voice, aspirate, ideophone, rough breathing, acoustics, phonics, phonetics, phonology, phonography, diacoustics, diaphonics, phonetism, sounding, soniferous, sonorous, sonorific, resonant, audible, distinct, stertorous, phonetic, phonic, phonocamptic, a thousand trills and quivering sounds, forensis strepitus.