accentuate
Americanverb (used with object)
-
accentuates,
present (3rd person singular)
-
accentuated,
past participle, past
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accentuating
present participle
-
to give emphasis or prominence to.
-
to place the stress or emphasis on (a particular syllable or word) when pronouncing it or showing its pronunciation.
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
accentuatesimple
-
accentuatessimple
-
have accentuatedperfect
-
has accentuatedperfect
-
am accentuatingprogressive
-
are accentuatingprogressive
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is accentuatingprogressive
-
have been accentuatingperfect progressive
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has been accentuatingperfect progressive
Past
-
accentuatedsimple
-
had accentuatedperfect
-
was accentuatingprogressive
-
were accentuatingprogressive
-
had been accentuatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of accentuate
First recorded in 1725–35; from Medieval Latin accentuātus intoned (past participle of accentuāre ); see accent, -ate 1
Explanation
To accentuate something is to emphasize it. If you want someone to know you’re from the American South, accentuate your accent by laying it on thick, y’all. When you accentuate, you draw attention to something. You could wear a green shirt to accentuate your green eyes, for example. You can also accentuate words when you give them added stress. An actor might accentuate certain words in a monologue in order to emphasize the character's anger. This word traces all the way back to the Latin verb canere, "to sing."
Vocabulary lists containing accentuate
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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100 SAT Words Beginning with "A"
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Essential English Vocabulary, List 1
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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.
See Examples For:
The consensus profits tallied by Wall Street analysts, often called “Street earnings,” typically exist to accentuate the positive and eliminate the negative.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026
Looking forward, Swiss Re warned that the El Nino climate pattern, which began in June and is expected to peak later this year, could accentuate the cost from weather-related disasters.
From Barron's ● Aug. 11, 2026
The kitchen is lit with huge skylights that accentuate the natural wood beams and bring a beautiful, bright feeling into the space.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 22, 2026
He tried to accentuate the positive but it was a battle.
From BBC ● Jun. 14, 2026
The drakon roared as if to accentuate the point, filling the air with more pine-ginger poison, which would have made an excellent car-freshener scent.
From "The House of Hades" by Rick Riordan
"It accentuates what they've done," says Dr Barney Wainwright, senior research fellow at Leeds Beckett University.
From BBC ● Jul. 5, 2026
Nevertheless, “Bug” is ingeniously structured to stoke suspense, and Mr. Cromer’s impeccable production accentuates the dexterous manner by which Mr. Letts makes plausible its harrowing climax.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 9, 2026
Upon entering the home, guests are greeted with an open floor plan that accentuates the expansive living area, with double French doors that allow natural light to flood the space.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 15, 2025
It's only right that "Beetlejuice" accentuates the fleetingness of teenage intensity through a tragic opera.
From Salon ● Sep. 11, 2024
My mother’s face has not aged as quickly as the rest of her body; it remains smooth and glowing—a cool tan— which her gray hair cleanly accentuates.
From "Hunger of Memory" by Richard Rodriguez
The boldness of these aspirations is accentuated by Mr. Woolfson’s candor about how far we stand from achieving any of them.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
Her eyes are accentuated with a slick of winged black eyeliner.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 7, 2026
During one orbit, Anders captured Earth's brilliant blue hue standing out against the vast darkness of space and accentuated by the desolate, grey lunar horizon in the foreground.
From Barron's ● Apr. 7, 2026
Upon entering the abode, guests are greeted with a large space with an open floor plan that is accentuated by the arches in the walls.
From MarketWatch ● Feb. 9, 2026
Blanca’s natural tendency to isolation and solitude became accentuated.
From "The House of the Spirits: A Novel" by Isabel Allende
Brown said this weakness — as well as other technical signs accentuating how much the financial sector is underperforming — gives him reason for pause.
From MarketWatch ● May 7, 2026
Some of their most well-known bits, like “Computer Dating,” came from hyperbolizing their backgrounds, with Jerry emphasizing his Jewish roots and Anne accentuating her Irish-Catholic heritage.
From Salon ● Oct. 18, 2025
Slot was in defiant mood in the aftermath of another disappointment, going through his full range of brave faces while accentuating the positive in the face of evidence to the contrary.
From BBC ● Oct. 4, 2025
She was a few years younger than Queen Victoria, and looked rather like her, in dress and bearing, and took to accentuating the resemblance.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 22, 2024
With her little lacquer brush, while the phone was ringing, she went over the nail of her little finger, accentuating the line of the moon.
From "Nine Stories" by J. D. Salinger
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
