stress

¹

[stres]

noun

1. importance attached to a thing.

   to lay stress upon good manners.

   Synonyms: worth, value, weight, consequence, emphasis, meaning, significance

2. Phonetics.,  emphasis in the form of prominent relative loudness of a syllable or a word as a result of special effort in utterance.

3. Prosody.,  accent or emphasis on syllables in a metrical pattern; beat.

4. emphasis in melody, rhythm, etc.; beat.

5. the physical pressure, pull, or other force exerted on one thing by another; strain.

6. Mechanics.

   1. the action on a body of any system of balanced forces whereby strain or deformation results.

   2. the amount of stress, usually measured in pounds per square inch or in pascals.

   3. a load, force, or system of forces producing a strain.

   4. the internal resistance or reaction of an elastic body to the external forces applied to it.

   5. the ratio of force to area.

7. Physiology.,  a specific response by the body to a stimulus, as fear or pain, that disturbs or interferes with the normal physiological equilibrium of an organism.

8. physical, mental, or emotional strain or tension.

   Worry over his job and his wife's health put him under a great stress.

   Synonyms: strain, struggle, exertion, effort, oppression, pressure, burden, anxiety

9. a situation, occurrence, or factor causing this.

   The stress of being trapped in the elevator gave him a pounding headache.

10. Archaic.,  strong or straining exertion.

verb (used with object)

1. to lay stress on; emphasize.

2. Phonetics.,  to pronounce (a syllable or a word) with prominent loudness.

   Stress the first syllable of “runner.” Stress the second word in “put up with.”

3. to subject to stress or strain.

4. Mechanics.,  to subject to stress.

verb (used without object)

1. to experience stress or worry.

   Don't stress about the turkey; I promise it will be delicious.

   Dad is always stressing out over his job.

-stress

²

1. a feminine equivalent of -ster.

   seamstress; songstress.

stress

¹

/ strɛs /

noun

1. special emphasis or significance attached to something

2. mental, emotional, or physical strain or tension

3. emphasis placed upon a syllable by pronouncing it more loudly than those that surround it

4. such emphasis as part of a regular rhythmic beat in music or poetry

5. a syllable so emphasized

6. physics

   1. force or a system of forces producing deformation or strain

   2. the force acting per unit area

verb

1. (tr) to give emphasis or prominence to

2. (tr) to pronounce (a word or syllable) more loudly than those that surround it

3. (tr) to subject to stress or strain

4. informal,  (intr) to become stressed or anxious

-stress

²

suffix

1. indicating a woman who performs or is engaged in a certain activity Compare -ster

   songstress

   seamstress

stress

1. The force per unit area applied to an object. Objects subject to stress tend to become distorted or deformed.

2. Compare strain See also axial stress shear stress See more at Hooke's law

3. 1. A physiologic reaction by an organism to an uncomfortable or unfamiliar physical or psychological stimulus. Biological changes result from stimulation of the sympathetic nervous system, including a heightened state of alertness, anxiety, increased heart rate, and sweating.

   2. The stimulus or circumstance causing such a reaction.

stress

¹

1. In physics, the internal resistance of an object to an external force that tends to deform it.

stress

²

1. A physical factor, such as injury, or mental state, such as anxiety, that disturbs the body's normal state of functioning. Stress may contribute to the development of some illnesses, including heart disease and cancer.

The term stress also refers to the physical and mental state produced in the body when it is influenced by such factors: “The stress of the new job was too much for Tim, so he requested reassignment to his old position in the company.”

Other Word Forms

• stressless adjective
• stresslessness noun
• antistress adjective
• de-stress verb (used with object)
• nonstress noun
• overstressed adjective
• restress verb
• understress verb (used with object)
• well-stressed adjective
• stressful adjective
• stressfully adverb
• stressfulness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of stress¹

First recorded in 1275–1325; (noun) Middle English stresse, aphetic variant of distresse; (verb) derivative of the noun; distress

Origin of stress²

-st(e)r + -ess

Word History and Origins

Origin of stress¹

C14: stresse, shortened from _distress

Origin of stress²

from _-st ( _e ) _r + _-ess

Example Sentences

“One of the things that I’m going to stress to everybody is that we are still in the early stages of this investigation,” Mears said.

From Los Angeles Times

Prosecutors said in a pre-sentencing memo that Williams called in the threat, “after he became overwhelmed with stress and anxiety and desperate to get out of an ongoing meeting.”

From Los Angeles Times

“It was motivated not by a political agenda or violent extremist ideology, but rather by defendant’s acute personal stress and anxiety due to numerous factors,” wrote David Ryan, a federal prosecutor who has since returned to private practice.

From Los Angeles Times

Kasatkina said the emotional stress of her nationality switch contributed to her struggles, including not seeing her father for four years.

From BBC

Carol said the stress of advocating for her son had taken a toll on her own health.

From BBC

Related Words

• agony 
• anxiety 
• burden 
• crunch 
• fear 
• hardship 
• hassle 
• heat 
• intensity 
• nervousness 
• strain 
• tension 
• trauma 
• worry 

When To Use

What does -stress mean?

The form -stress is a suffix that marks a feminine agent noun, which indicates a person who does an action. This suffix is occasionally used in a variety of informal terms, but it has lost popularity in recent years. Increasingly, -stress is seen as an unnecessarily gendered suffix for forming agent nouns because it identifies the "doer" as female.The suffix -stress is a combination of two similar suffixes: Old English -estre, which marked female agent nouns, and Old French -esse (see -ess), a common feminine ending for nouns.What are variants of -stress?When agent nouns ending in -stress are used to refer to a masculine- or neutral-gendered element, -stress becomes -ster, as in seamster (a male seamstress).Want to know more? Read our Words That Use -ster article.