stress test

¹

noun

1. a test, especially one conducted in a laboratory, to determine how much pressure, tension, wear, or the like a given product or material can withstand.
2. Medicine/Medical. a test of cardiovascular health made by recording heart rate, blood pressure, electrocardiogram, and other parameters while a person undergoes physical exertion.
3. a simulation test to determine how a given institution, system, etc., would perform under greater than usual stresses or pressures:

   the government’s stress test for big banks;

   mandatory stress tests for nuclear plants;

   a website stress test that simulates peak traffic.

stress-test

²

[ stres-test ]

verb (used with object)

1. to subject to a stress test.

Other Words From

• stress-testing noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of stress test¹

First recorded in 1970–75

Example Sentences

In a new memoir, Stress Test: Reflections on Financial Crises, Geithner offers his take on what really happened.

From The Daily Beast

A punching bag as treasury secretary, Geithner finally gets to unload in ‘Stress Test.’

From The Daily Beast

And finally, the implementation of the post-stress test rescue plan is also flawed.

From The Daily Beast

The economic assumptions behind the stress-test scenarios are also suspect.

From The Daily Beast

But a stress test is inherently ambiguous, and can be interpreted any which way you like.

From The Daily Beast

It would be prudent to have a thorough physical and, if you are over forty, also a stress test.

From Project Gutenberg