stress
stress is defined in Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1913) with 6 senses, and appears in Roget's Thesaurus (1911) with 40 related terms. The full text of each entry is reproduced verbatim below.
Definitions
- 1.Pressure, strain; -- used chiefly of immaterial things; except in mechanics; hence, urgency; importance; weight; significance. The faculties of the mind are improved by exercise, yet they must not be put to a stress beyond their strength. Locke. A body may as well lay too little as too much stress upon a dream. L'Estrange.
- 2.(Mech. & Physics) 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. Stress is the mutual action between portions of matter. Clerk Maxwell.
- 3.(Pron.) 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.
- 4.(Scots Law) Distress; the act of distraining; also, the thing distrained. 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.
- 5.To press; to urge; to distress; to put to difficulties. [R.] Spenser.
- 6.To subject to stress, pressure, or strain.
Source: Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).
Synonyms
Related terms (Roget's 1911)
- able
- absorbing
- ask
- back
- baleen
- bounce
- buoyancy
- buoyant
- call
- cannot
- caoutchouc
- case
- charge
- claim
- command
- create
- crying
- death
- deficiency
- demand
- desiderate
- desideratum
- desire
- destitute
- dispense
- distend
- ductile
- elastic
- elasticity
- essential
- essentiality
- exaction
- exigency
- exigent
- extend
- flex
- flexibility
- flexible
- for
- gum
Source: Roget's Thesaurus, 1911 edition (public domain, via Project Gutenberg eBook #10681).
Related questions
Reverse-dictionary questions
Definition-first questions whose answer is stress.
- What is 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 called?
- What is to press; to urge; to distress; to put to difficulties. [R.] Spenser called?
- What is to subject to stress, pressure, or strain called?
Sources
- Definitions: Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).
- Synonyms & antonyms: Roget's Thesaurus, 1911 edition (public domain, via Project Gutenberg eBook #10681).
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