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accentual

American  
[ak-sen-choo-uhl] / ækˈsɛn tʃu əl /

adjective

  1. of or relating to accent or stress.

  2. Prosody. of or relating to poetry based on the number of stresses, as distinguished from poetry depending on the number of syllables or quantities.


accentual British  
/ ækˈsɛntʃʊəl /

adjective

  1. of, relating to, or having accents; rhythmic

  2. prosody of or relating to verse based on the number of stresses in a line rather than on the number of syllables Compare quantitative

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

  • accentuality noun
  • accentually adverb
  • nonaccentual adjective
  • nonaccentually adverb

Etymology

Origin of accentual

1600–10; < Latin accentu ( s ) ( accent ) + -al 1

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Eventually, he stirs in some variations of speed and volume, accentual bursts of sound, with deeper tones and crunch.

From New York Times • Feb. 16, 2024

Otherwise, they dress like the British, their mother tongue is English, with an accentual twang of Indian and they are Christians.

From BBC • Jan. 4, 2013

The presence of a tendency toward initial accentuation appears when the average intensities of the four reactions are considered irrespective of accentual position.

From Harvard Psychological Studies, Volume 1 Containing Sixteen Experimental Investigations from the Harvard Psychological Laboratory. by Münsterberg, Hugo

The proportional intensive values of the successive reactions for the series of possible accentual positions are given in the following table:

From Harvard Psychological Studies, Volume 1 Containing Sixteen Experimental Investigations from the Harvard Psychological Laboratory. by Münsterberg, Hugo

Otherwise, the rhythm bears the appearance of a six-foot accentual iambic, an appearance which is confirmed by the recurrence of a single rhyme or assonance in a throughout the poem.

From Renaissance in Italy: Italian Literature Part 1 (of 2) by Symonds, John Addington