Word.ws English Dictionary

destress

UK/ˌdiːˈstɹɛs/US/ˌdiˈstɹɛs/

destress verb: to reduce the physical stresses in (a material).

Verb

destress (third-person singular simple present destresses, present participle destressing, simple past and past participle destressed)

  1. (transitive) To reduce the physical stresses in (a material).
  2. (ergative) To reduce the emotional stress in (another person); to reduce the stress in oneself.
  3. (transitive) To reduce the emphasis or stress on; de-emphasize.

Synonyms of destress

Forms of destress

third-person singular presentdestresses
present participledestressing
past participledestressed
pastdestressed
alternative formde-stress

Origin of destress

From de- + stress.

Words formed from destress

Questions about destress

What does destress mean?
Destress means to reduce the physical stresses in (a material).
What part of speech is destress?
Destress is a verb.
How do you pronounce destress?
Destress is pronounced /ˌdiːˈstɹɛs/ (UK).
What is the past tense of destress?
The past tense of destress is destressed.

Words near destress in the dictionary

  1. destreamline
  2. destreamlined
  3. destreamlines
  4. destreamlining
  5. destreams
  6. destress
  7. destressed
  8. destresser
  9. destressers
  10. destresses
  11. destressification

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: destress (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “destress.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/destress. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.