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

Unstressed, un-strest′, adj. not pronounced with stress, unaccented.

From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 4 of 4: S-Z and supplements) by Various

Related Words

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