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 Word Forms

• stress-testing noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of stress test¹

First recorded in 1970–75

Example Sentences

Yet as the recent stress tests showed, there is still work to do for the plan and reality to line up.

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Nearly a decade later, California confronted its own stress test.

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That’s by design: From the moment the Xcel left the shipyard until it welcomed its first shakedown guests, every venue was put through rigorous stress tests.

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For Mamdani, the “fascist” question may have been a deliberate stress test.

Read more on Salon

The Whatever experience, she said, was a “stress test” that lasted from mid-afternoon until after 1 a.m.

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