stress test
1 Americannoun
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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.
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Medicine/Medical. a test of cardiovascular health made by recording heart rate, blood pressure, electrocardiogram, and other parameters while a person undergoes physical exertion.
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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.
verb (used with object)
Other Word Forms
- stress-testing noun
Etymology
Origin of stress test
First recorded in 1970–75
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
For example, stress tests aren’t helpful in people without symptoms of heart disease.
Banks for years have railed against stress tests’ frameworks and certain aspects of capital requirements.
From Barron's
One good example is exercise stress tests combined with echocardiographic imaging.
From MarketWatch
“It is the market’s stress test for the entire macro system. Below it, investors can still tell themselves the global economy is navigating turbulence. Above it, the story changes to something far more consequential.”
From MarketWatch
“It is the market’s stress test for the entire macro system. Below it, investors can still tell themselves the global economy is navigating turbulence. Above it, the story changes to something far more consequential.”
From MarketWatch
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.