stress

• POS: Noun, Verb (transitive)
• COUNT in NET: 2 in 2 verses (in OT : 2 in 2 verses)

CIDE DICTIONARY

stress, n. [Abbrev. fr. distress; or cf. OF. estrecier to press, pinch, (assumed) LL. strictiare, fr. L. strictus. See Distress.].

•  Distress.  [1913 Webster]

  "Sad hersal of his heavy stress."  [1913 Webster]
•  Pressure, strain; -- used chiefly of immaterial things; except in mechanics; hence, urgency; importance; weight; significance.  [1913 Webster]

  "The faculties of the mind are improved by exercise, yet they must not be put to a stress beyond their strength."  [1913 Webster]

  "A body may as well lay too little as too much stress upon a dream."  [1913 Webster]
•  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.  Rankine.  [1913 Webster]

  "Stress is the mutual action between portions of matter."  [1913 Webster]
•  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, 1913 Webster]
•  Distress; the act of distraining; also, the thing distrained.  [1913 Webster]

Stress of voice, unusual exertion of the voice. -- Stress of weather, constraint imposed by continued bad weather; as, to be driven back to port by stress of weather. -- To lay stress upon, to attach great importance to; to emphasize. “Consider how great a stress is laid upon this duty.” Atterbury. -- To put stress upon, or To put to a stress, to strain.

stress, v. t. 

•  To press; to urge; to distress; to put to difficulties.  Spenser.  [1913 Webster]
•  To subject to stress, pressure, or strain.  [1913 Webster]
•  To subject to phonetic stress; to accent.  [Webster 1913 Suppl.]
•  To place emphasis on; to make emphatic; emphasize.  [Webster 1913 Suppl.]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

stress, n. & v.
--n.
1 a pressure or tension exerted on a material object. b a quantity measuring this.
2 a demand on physical or mental energy. b distress caused by this (suffering from stress).
3 a emphasis (the stress was on the need for success). b accentuation; emphasis laid on a syllable or word. c an accent, esp. the principal one in a word (the stress is on the first syllable).
4 Mech. force per unit area exerted between contiguous bodies or parts of a body.
--v.tr.
1 lay stress on; emphasize.
2 subject to mechanical or physical or mental stress.

Idiom

lay stress on indicate as important. stress disease a disease resulting from continuous mental stress.

Derivative

stressless adj.

Etymology

ME f. DISTRESS, or partly f. OF estresse narrowness, oppression, ult. f. L strictus STRICT

THESAURUS

stress

Alexandrine, accent, accentuate, accentuation, ache, aching, adverse circumstances, adversity, affliction, aggravation, ambivalence, ambivalence of impulse, amphibrach, amphimacer, anacrusis, anapest, anguish, annoyance, antispast, anxiety, arsis, assault, bacchius, bear, bear upon, bearing, beat, belabor, blight, blow, boost, buck, bull, bulldoze, bummer, bump, bump against, bunt, burden, butt, butt against, cadence, caesura, care, catalexis, chloriamb, chloriambus, clutch, colon, compulsion, concern, concernment, conflict, consequence, consequentiality, consideration, constraint, counterpoint, cram, cramp, cretic, crisis, cross, crowd, crunch, curse, cut, dactyl, dactylic hexameter, decompensation, diaeresis, difficulties, difficulty, dig, dimeter, dipody, distress, disturb, dochmiac, dolor, downer, drive, dwell on, elbow, elegiac, elegiac couplet, elegiac pentameter, emergency, emotional shock, emphasis, emphasize, epitrite, excellence, exigency, external frustration, feature, feminine caesura, focus on, foot, force, forcefulness, frustration, give emphasis to, goad, grief, harass, hard knocks, hard life, hard lot, hardcase, hardship, harp on, haul, head, heave, heptameter, heptapody, heroic couplet, hexameter, hexapody, high order, high pressure, high rank, highlight, hurt, hurtle, hustle, iamb, iambic, iambic pentameter, ictus, imperativeness, import, importance, impulse, impulsion, injury, insistence, interest, ionic, irk, irritation, italicize, jab, jam, jingle, jog, joggle, jolt, jostle, lesion, level of stress, lilt, mark, masculine caesura, materiality, measure, mental shock, mental strain, merit, meter, metrical accent, metrical foot, metrical group, metrical unit, metrics, metron, molossus, moment, mora, movement, nasty blow, nervous strain, nervous tension, note, nudge, numbers, overaccentuate, overemphasize, overexert, overexertion, overextend, overextension, overstrain, overstress, overtax, overtaxing, paeon, pain, pang, paramountcy, passion, pentameter, pentapody, period, pile drive, pinch, place emphasis on, play up, plight, point up, poke, precedence, predicament, preeminence, press, pressure, primacy, primary stress, priority, proceleusmatic, prod, prominence, prosodics, prosody, psychological stress, pull, punch, punctuate, push, pyrrhic, quantity, rack, ram, ram down, rash impulse, rattle, rhythm, rhythmic pattern, rhythmical stress, rigor, rub in, run, run against, sea of troubles, secondary stress, self-importance, shake, shock, shoulder, shove, significance, sore, sore spot, spasm, spondee, spotlight, sprung rhythm, star, strain, strain every nerve, straining, stress accent, stress and strain, stress of life, stress pattern, stressfulness, stretch, stroke, suffering, superiority, supremacy, sweat blood, swing, syzygy, tamp, tautness, tax, taxing, tender spot, tense, tenseness, tension, tertiary stress, tetrameter, tetrapody, tetraseme, thesis, throes, thrust, torque, torsion, trauma, traumatism, trial, tribrach, tribulation, trimeter, tripody, triseme, trochee, trouble, troubles, try, tug, underline, underscore, upset, urge, urgency, vale of tears, value, vicissitude, weak stress, weight, worry, worth, wound, wrench

ROGET THESAURUS

stress

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.

Requirement

N requirement, need, wants, necessities, necessaries, necessaries of life, stress, exigency, pinch, sine qua non, matter of necessity, case of need, case of life or death, needfulness, essentiality, necessity, indispensability, urgency, requisition, run upon, demand, call for, charge, claim, command, injunction, mandate, order, precept, desideratum, want, Adj, required, requisite, needful, necessary, imperative, essential, indispensable, prerequisite, called for, in demand, in request, urgent, exigent, pressing, instant, crying, absorbing, in want of, destitute of, ex necessitate rei, of necessity, there is no time to lose, it cannot be spared, it cannot be dispensed with, mendacem memorem esse oportet, necessitas non habet legem, nec tecum possum trivere nec sine te.

Importance

N importance, consequence, moment, prominence, consideration, mark, materialness, import, significance, concern, emphasis, interest, greatness, superiority, notability, weight, value, usefulness, gravity, seriousness, solemnity, no joke, no laughing matter, pressure, urgency, stress, matter of life and death, memorabilia, notabilia, great doings, red-letter day, great thing, great point, main chance, the be all and the end all, cardinal point, substance, gist, sum and substance, gravamen, head and front, important part, principal part, prominent part, essential part, half the battle, sine qua non, breath of one's nostrils, cream, salt, core, kernel, heart, nucleus, keynote, keystone, corner stone, trump card, salient points, top sawyer, first fiddle, prima donna, chief, triton among the minnows, 'it', important, of importance, momentous, material, to the point, not to be overlooked, not to be despised, not to be sneezed at, egregious, weighty, of note, notable, prominent, salient, signal, memorable, remarkable, unforgettable, worthy of remark, worthy of notice, never to be forgotten, stirring, eventful, grave, serious, earnest, noble, grand, solemn, impressive, commanding, imposing, urgent, pressing, critical, instant, paramount, essential, vital, all-absorbing, radical, cardinal, chief, main, prime, primary, principal, leading, capital, foremost, overruling, of vital importance in the front rank, first-rate, superior, considerable, marked, rare, significant, telling, trenchant, emphatic, pregnant, tanti, materially, in the main, above all, kat' exochin, par excellence, to crown all, to beat all, expende Hannibalem!.

Exertion

N exertion, effort, strain, tug, pull, stress, throw, stretch, struggle, spell, spurt, spirt, stroke of work, stitch of work, a strong pull a long pull and a pull all together, dead lift, heft, gymnastics, exercise, exercitation, wear and tear, ado, toil and trouble, uphill work, hard work, warm work, harvest time, labor, work, toil, travail, manual labor, sweat of one's brow, swink, drudgery, slavery, fagging, hammering, limae labor, industry, industriousness, operoseness, operosity, trouble, pains, duty, resolution, energy, laboring, laborious, operose, elaborate, strained, toilsome, troublesome, wearisome, uphill, herculean, gymnastic, palestric, hard-working, painstaking, strenuous, energetic, hard at work, on the stretch, laboriously, lustily, pugnis et calcibus, with might and main, with all one's might, with a strong hand, with a sledge hammer, with much ado, to the best of one's abilities, totis viribus, vi et armis, manibus pedibusque, tooth and nail, unguibus et rostro, hammer and tongs, heart and soul, through thick and thin, by the sweat of one's brow, suo Marte, aide-toi le ciel t'aidera, and still be doing, never done, buen principio la mitad es hecha, cosa ben fatta e' fatta due volie, it is better to wear out than to rust out, labor omnia vincit, labor, wide as the earth, has its summit in Heaven, le travail du corps delivre des peines de l'esprit, manu forti, ora et labora.

Difficulty

N difficulty, hardness, impracticability, tough work, hard work, uphill work, hard task, Herculean task, Augean task, task of Sisyphus, Sisyphean labor, tough job, teaser, rasper, dead lift, dilemma, embarrassment, deadlock, perplexity, intricacy, entanglement, complexity, cross fire, awkwardness, delicacy, ticklish card to play, knot, Gordian knot, dignus vindice nodus, net, meshes, maze, coil, crooked path, involvement, nice point, delicate point, subtle point, knotty point, vexed question, vexata quaestio, poser, puzzle, paradox, hard nut to crack, nut to crack, bone to pick, crux, pons asinorum, where the shoe pinches, nonplus, quandary, strait, pass, pinch, pretty pass, stress, brunt, critical situation, crisis, trial, rub, emergency, exigency, scramble, scrape, hobble, slough, quagmire, hot water, hornet's nest, sea of troubles, peck of troubles, pretty kettle of fish, pickle, stew, imbroglio, mess, ado, false position, set fast, stand, standstill, deadlock, dead set, fix, horns of a dilemma, cul de sac, hitch, stumbling block, crab, curmudgeon, difficult, not easy, hard, tough, troublesome, toilsome, irksome, operose, laborious, onerous, arduous, Herculean, formidable, sooner said than done, more easily said than done, easier said than done, difficult to deal with, hard to deal with, ill-conditioned, crabbed, crabby, not to be handled with kid gloves, not made with rose water, awkward, unwieldy, unmanageable, intractable, stubborn, perverse, refractory, plaguy, trying, thorny, rugged, knotted, knotty, invious, pathless, trackless, labyrinthine, intricate, complicated, impracticable, not feasible, desperate, embarrassing, perplexing, delicate, ticklish, critical, beset with difficulties, full of difficulties, surrounded by difficulties, entangled by difficulties, encompassed with difficulties, under a difficulty, in a box, in difficulty, in hot water, in the suds, in a cleft stick, in a fix, in the wrong box, in a scrape, in deep water, in a fine pickle, in extremis, between two stools, between Scylla and Charybdis, surrounded by shoals, surrounded by breakers, surrounded by quicksands, at cross purposes, not out of the wood, reduced to straits, hard pressed, sorely pressed, run hard, pinched, put to it, straitened, hard up, hard put to it, hard set, put to one's shifts, puzzled, at a loss, at the end of one's tether, at the end of one's rope, at one's wit's end, at a nonplus, at a standstill, graveled, nonplused, nonplussed, stranded, aground, stuck fast, set fast, up a tree, at bay, aux abois, driven into a corner, driven from pillar to post, driven to extremity, driven to one's wit's end, driven to the wall, au bout de son Latin, out of one's depth, thrown out, accomplished with difficulty, hard-fought, hard-earned, with difficulty, with much ado, barely, hardly, uphill, against the stream, against the grain, d rebours, invita Minerva, in the teeth of, at a pinch, upon a pinch, at long odds, against long odds, ay there's the rub, hic labor hoc opus, things are come to a pretty pass, ab inconvenienti, ad astra per aspera, acun chemin de fleurs ne conduit a la gloire.