unstressed

American  

[uhn-strest] / ʌnˈstrɛst /

adjective

1. without stress or emphasis, as a syllable in a word.

2. not receiving or subjected to stress, wear, etc..

   the unstressed parts of a car body.

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unstressed British  

/ ʌnˈstrɛst /

adjective

1. carrying relatively little stress; unemphasized

2. phonetics of, relating to, or denoting the weakest accent in a word or breath group, which in some languages, such as English or German, is also associated with a reduction in vowel quality to a centralized (i) or (a)

3. prosody (of a syllable in verse) having no stress or accent

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Etymology

Origin of unstressed

First recorded in 1880–85; un- ¹ + stress + -ed ²

Explanation

An unstressed syllable is the part of the word that you don't emphasize or accent, like the to- in today, or the -day in Sunday. An unstressed person is someone for whom every day feels like Sunday. When you pronounce a word with multiple syllables, like avocado (to choose a random example), you put more pressure on some syllables than others — in this case, the ah and the cah. Consider those syllables stressed. If they were people, they'd be biting their nails and pulling out their hair while sitting at a desk piled with paperwork. The vo and the do, on the other hand, would be unstressed — lounging with their feet on the desk, doing crossword puzzles.

Example Sentences

However, cortisol levels in unstressed mothers decreased to normal levels after delivery, while the levels in mothers with adverse early life experiences remained high for one to three weeks after birth.

From Science Daily • Apr. 16, 2024

Now imagine yourself in total control of your money, unstressed, thriving, deciding how you’ll spend your credit card cash-back rewards.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 15, 2021

Pausing at the unstressed sound in the middle of word, she collected herself, started again, and nailed the second 'e', jumping for joy on stage when told she was correct.

From Reuters • Jul. 9, 2021

Pick a time when you’re both calm and relatively unstressed, have eaten, had enough sleep, and have plenty of time to talk.

From Slate • Feb. 16, 2021

Elision, the omission or crowding out of unstressed words or unaccented syllables to make the metre smoother; a term belonging to classical prosody and inappropriate in English prosody except where syllable-counting verse is concerned.

From The Principles of English Versification by Baum, Paull Franklin

Related Words

• dull
• feeble
• low
• poor
• quiet
• small
• thin