accent

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   distinctive manner of oral expression

   Their couldn't suppress their contempt in their accent.

2. 2
   verb

   to put stress on

   The speaker accented the word for emphasis.

3. 3
   verb

   to stress, single out as important

   I made sure to accent the importance of that last issue.

4. 4
   noun

   A higher-pitched or stronger (louder or longer) articulation of a particular syllable of a word or phrase in order to distinguish it from the others or to emphasize it.

   In the word "careful", the accent is placed on the first syllable.

5. 5
   noun

   Emphasis or importance in general.

   At this hotel, the accent is on luxury.

6. 6
   noun

   Any mark used in writing over letters, either in order to indicate the place of the spoken stress, or to indicate the nature or quality of the vowel marked, or to distinguish homophones.

   The name Cézanne is written with an acute accent.

7. 7
   noun

   Modulation of the voice in speaking; the manner of speaking or pronouncing; a peculiar or characteristic modification of the voice, expressing emotion; tone.

   I know, sir, I am no flatterer: he that beguiled you in a plain accent was a plain knave; which for my part I will not be, though I should win your displeasure to entreat me to 't.

8. 8
   noun

   The distinctive manner of pronouncing a language associated with a particular region, social group, etc., whether of a native speaker or a foreign speaker; the phonetic and phonological aspects of a dialect.

   a foreign accent

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English accent, from Medieval Latin accentus and Old French accent, acent, both from Latin accentus, past participle of accinō (“sing to, sing along”). The word accent had been borrowed into Old English already, but was lost and reborrowed in Middle English.