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• stress
  stress

  noun

  importance attached to a thing.
• -stress
  -stress

  a feminine equivalent of -ster.

stress

¹ American  

[stres] / strɛs /

noun

• stresses
  plural

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.

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verb (used with object)

• stresses,
  present (3rd person singular)
• stressed,
  past participle,  past
• stressing
  present participle

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)

• stresses,
  present (3rd person singular)
• stressed,
  past participle,  past
• stressing
  present participle

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 American  

1. a feminine equivalent of -ster.

   seamstress; songstress.

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-stress ¹ British  

suffix

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

   songstress

   seamstress

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stress ² British  

/ 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

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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 Scientific  

/ strĕs /

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.

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stress ¹ Cultural  

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

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stress ² Cultural  

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.

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Usage

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.

Discover More

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

Derived Forms

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

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• stresses
  plural

Participles

• stressing
  present
• stressed
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• stress
  simple
• stresses
  simple
• have stressed
  perfect
• has stressed
  perfect
• am stressing
  progressive
• are stressing
  progressive
• is stressing
  progressive
• have been stressing
  perfect progressive
• has been stressing
  perfect progressive

Past

• stressed
  simple
• had stressed
  perfect
• was stressing
  progressive
• were stressing
  progressive
• had been stressing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will stress
  simple
• will have stressed
  perfect
• will be stressing
  progressive
• will have been stressing
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of stress¹

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

Origin of -stress²

-st(e)r + -ess

Explanation

The word stress is about pressure, whether it's pressure on a syllable of a word (TRAIN-er versus train-EE), an object (the bridge is designed to handle the stress of the cars), or a person (I am under a lot of stress). It says something about our culture, how much we love to use the word stress and keep redefining it to mean new things. The word first appeared in about 1300, when it meant hardship or a force to which someone is subjected. In the 1890s, we stretched the meaning to include "emphasizing something" and, in the middle of the 20th century, started to associate it with psychological pressure.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

stress stresses stressed stressing

"Our current study shows that animals change how they use space and resources, but we don't know if these changes are helping them adapt or are a sign of stress," she pointed out.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 28, 2026

He told BBC Radio Ulster's The Nolan Show that, as a part of a mobile support unit, there was "a lot of stress… very prolonged and would wear you down".

From BBC ● Aug. 28, 2026

Prime Minister Andy Burnham said unscrupulous tradespeople "leave families with months of stress" as well as unfinished work.

From BBC ● Aug. 27, 2026

She took a ride on the Magic School Bus in 1996 to stress the importance of recycling and environmental conservation.

From Salon ● Aug. 27, 2026

My heartbeat quickened, my stress levels surpassing total destruction on the Richter scale.

From "Sir Fig Newton and the Science of Persistence" by Sonja Thomas

According to the researchers, tooth loss could reflect the accumulated effects of chronic inflammation, frailty, nutritional health, lifestyle, and other systemic stresses experienced over many years.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 22, 2026

He stresses that the film is not his family's story, but "there's bits of me" scattered throughout its characters.

From BBC ● Aug. 15, 2026

There are plenty of other ways that our culture has disguised unhealthy behaviors, as “Maddie’s Secret” so cunningly stresses.

From Salon ● Aug. 8, 2026

Dominic Sessa stars alongside Antonio Banderas, Leo Woodall and Emilia Jones in a superb biopic about the renowned chef, years before fame, that stresses the value of discipline and hard work.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026

They are new to the Bronx and new to the Street Crime Unit and new to the unimaginable stresses of chasing what they think is an armed man down a darkened hallway.

From "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell

On relationships, Gates stressed that AI can be an echo-chamber, which could have profound effects on children.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 26, 2026

She stressed, however, that a firm link could only be made through an event attribution study.

From Barron's ● Aug. 26, 2026

“They may be even more stressed out about that,” said Peter Jackson, a privacy and cybersecurity attorney in Los Angeles, in an interview prior to the settlement announcement.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 26, 2026

Gazprom Arena acknowledged it had received complaints about West's planned appearance and stressed that it "was not and is not" responsible for his booking.

From BBC ● Aug. 25, 2026

He stressed how important it was for Millet to attend.

From "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson

Yet in September, corporate borrowers already stressing the market with a huge supply of new bonds to finance the artificial-intelligence build-out are expected to kick things up a notch.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 19, 2026

Boat noise has been shown to affect whales in particular, stressing them out, disrupting their hunting and drowning out their ocean-spanning songs.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 16, 2026

Cunningham called Keaton’s behavior “truly embarrassing” while also attempting to distance herself from her previous anti-trans comments, stressing that trans women, trans men and everyone else are welcome “at her table.”

From Salon ● Aug. 15, 2026

Galma also argued that other security agencies should receive similar pay reviews, stressing that "keeping the country safe is a joint effort".

From BBC ● Aug. 5, 2026

“I didn’t ask how long it was. I need to know how far ...” I said, stressing the last word.

From "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss

Related Words

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