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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

A late-night snacking episode can be a way to disconnect from the stress of daily life as a working parent, for example.

From Slate ● Sep. 23, 2026

Experts stress the meningitis vaccine currently being offered to more than a million young people starting university protects against it.

From BBC ● Sep. 22, 2026

Despite the encouraging findings, the researchers stress that several obstacles must still be addressed before the therapy could be tested widely in people.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 22, 2026

But Pawel wants to stress that the university system is still growing, and still testing out systems for figuring out who belongs.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 22, 2026

The stress of waiting helplessly wore on them.

From "Meltdown" by Deirdre Langeland

The practice of indiscriminately removing interior branches to “reduce density” stresses trees, harms tree health and can make them less safe.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 22, 2026

Low valuations, he stresses, are the reason above any other that he feels confident investing in China.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 21, 2026

Some have argued greater awareness and misattributing normal life stresses to mental illness are factors in the increase in cases.

From BBC ● Sep. 21, 2026

Materials designed to curve and then hold that form are often produced by molding polymers and carefully controlling residual stresses inside them.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 4, 2026

When you talk, your voice, with its pauses, stresses, rises, and falls, shows how you intend your words to fit together.

From "Woe Is I" by Patricia T. O'Conner

Gen. Keith Ellison stressed that the deal should not be seen as an endorsement of the merger.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 23, 2026

"Your brain learns this is somewhere I lie and get stressed about not being able to sleep - so the most important thing is a consistent waking time," she says.

From BBC ● Sep. 22, 2026

Such direct relationships, he stressed, are the core asset of modern journalism, even as tech platforms continually insert themselves between news outlets and their readers and viewers through algorithm tweaks.

From Salon ● Sep. 22, 2026

HANGZHOU, China—When Wu Songyun, 35, worked in international trade in the Chinese city of Chengdu, she was chronically stressed from long work hours and demands from a tough boss.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 20, 2026

But physical fitness was stressed for each group: Girls and boys hiked, camped out, and participated in competitive field exercises.

From "Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow" by Susan Campbell Bartoletti

Devon and Cornwall Police said partner agencies continued "to assess the unexploded ordnance", stressing work was "ongoing to determine the safest and most appropriate course of action".

From BBC ● Sep. 22, 2026

Danish officials have described the deal differently, stressing it preserves Denmark’s sovereignty and Greenlanders’ right to self-determination.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 22, 2026

In addition, Cruz expressed a need for guardrails while stressing the importance of beating China in the AI race.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 14, 2026

Kennedy said the senior signal-caller was walking up and down the sideline, talking to teammates and stressing a “next drive” mentality.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026

In stressing ‘discovery’ I am providing an explanation for the new cultural values of late-Renaissance Europe.

From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton

Related Words

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