secondary accent

American  

noun

1. a stress accent weaker than primary accent but stronger than lack of stress.

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secondary accent British  

noun

1. phonetics (in a system of transcribing utterances recognizing three levels of stress) the accent on a syllable of a word or breath group that is weaker than the primary accent but stronger than the lack of stress Compare primary accent

   in the word ``agriculture'' the secondary accent falls on the third syllable

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Etymology

Origin of secondary accent

First recorded in 1830–40

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

secondary accent

A secondary accent, or stress, is usually put upon the second member of compound and derivative nouns, adjectives, and adverbs.

From Anglo-Saxon Grammar and Exercise Book with Inflections, Syntax, Selections for Reading, and Glossary by C. Alphonso (Charles Alphonso) Smith

How close can primary and secondary accent come together?

From 1001 Questions and Answers on Orthography and Reading by B. A. Hathaway

In the latter word this secondary accent is made to lengthen the y, and so causes a double error.

From The Art Of Writing & Speaking The English Language Word-Study and Composition & Rhetoric by Sherwin Cody

This potential stress is of the utmost importance in verse—as when Milton out of three words, two of which have no recognized secondary accent, makes a 5-stress line: Immutable, immortal, infinite.

From The Principles of English Versification by Paull Franklin Baum

Some very long words indeed admit a secondary accent on another syllable; but still this is much inferior, and leaves one leading accent prominent: as in expos'tulatory.

From The Grammar of English Grammars by Goold Brown

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