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

Example Sentences

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 Smith, C. Alphonso (Charles Alphonso)

How close can primary and secondary accent come together?

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

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 Baum, Paull Franklin

The first half of each line ends in an unaccented syllabic—or, strictly speaking, in a syllable bearing a secondary accent; that is, each line has what is called a "ringing" caesura.

From The Nibelungenlied Translated into Rhymed English Verse in the Metre of the Original by Needler, George Henry

This is not so much, however, an intensification of an already existent secondary accent, as in, for example, Shelley's The eager hours and unreluctant years.

From The Principles of English Versification by Baum, Paull Franklin