Accent

Ac·cent

Accent

n.
  1. A superior force of voice or of articulative effort upon some particular syllable of a word or a phrase, distinguishing it from the others.
  2. A mark or character used in writing, and serving to regulate the pronunciation;
  3. Modulation of the voice in speaking; manner of speaking or pronouncing; peculiar or characteristic modification of the voice; tone; as, a foreign accent; a French or a German accent.
    The tender accent of a woman's cry.
  4. A word; a significant tone
    Winds! on your wings to Heaven her accents bear, Such words as Heaven alone is fit to hear.
  5. Stress laid on certain syllables of a verse. (Pros.)
  6. A regularly recurring stress upon the tone to mark the beginning, and, more feebly, the third part of the measure. (Mus.)
  7. A mark placed at the right hand of a letter, and a little above it, to distinguish magnitudes of a similar kind expressed by the same letter, but differing in value, as y′, y″. (Math.)

Accent

v. t.

imp. & p. p. Accented; p. pr. & vb. n. Accenting

  1. To express the accent of (either by the voice or by a mark); to utter or to mark with accent.
  2. To mark emphatically; to emphasize.