accent
IPA: ʌksˈɛnt
noun
- (linguistics) A higher-pitched or stronger (louder or longer) articulation of a particular syllable of a word or phrase in order to distinguish it from the others or to emphasize it.
- (figuratively) Emphasis or importance in general.
- (orthography) A mark or character used in writing, in order to indicate the place of the spoken accent, or to indicate the nature or quality of the vowel marked.
- Modulation of the voice in speaking; the manner of speaking or pronouncing; a peculiar or characteristic modification of the voice, expressing emotion; tone.
- (linguistics, sociolinguistics) The distinctive manner of pronouncing a language associated with a particular region, social group, etc., whether of a native speaker or a foreign speaker; the phonetic and phonological aspects of a dialect.
- (informal, sometimes proscribed) A manner of pronunciation suggesting that the speaker is from a different region; a foreign accent.
- (sign languages) A distinctive manner of producing a sign language, such as someone who does not normally use a certain sign language might have when using it.
- A word; a significant tone or sound.
- (usually plural only) Expressions in general; speech.
- (prosody, poetry) Stress laid on certain syllables of a verse.
- (music) A regularly recurring stress upon the tone to mark the beginning, and, more feebly, the third part of the measure.
- (music) A special emphasis of a tone, even in the weaker part of the measure.
- (music) A mark used to represent this special emphasis.
- (music) The rhythmical accent, which marks phrases and sections of a period.
- (mathematics) A prime symbol.
- Emphasis laid on a part of an artistic design or composition; an emphasized detail, in particular a detail in sharp contrast to its surroundings.
- A very small gemstone set into a piece of jewellery.
- (archaic) Utterance.
verb
- (transitive) To express the accent of vocally; to utter with accent.
- (transitive) To mark emphatically; to emphasize; to accentuate; to make prominent.
- (transitive) To mark with written accents.
Advertisement
Examples of "accent" in Sentences
- They had a strange accent.
- But there is no one yokel accent.
- I agree with the use of the accent.
- The accent mark is still in the title.
- As I expected, the Aussie accents are risible.
- The accent quickly became the subject of ridicule.
- He was tickled pink by the accent and the etiquette.
- The acute accent denotes the syllable where the stress happens.
- Possibly the accent of the Javanese speaker confused the scribe.
- Crowley randomly retained the grave accent in the transliteration.
- Look at people like Henry Kissinger whose command of English far exceeds that of a majority of Americans, yet his accent is atrocious and he has never been able to improve upon it.
- I tend to think of the term accent as used sometimes as a non-technical word for dialect, or as something used to talk about the speech of those speaking in a second or third or what have you language.