stresses

Noun

stress (countable and uncountable, plural stresses)

1. A physical, chemical, infective agent aggressing an organism.
2. Aggression toward an organism resulting in a response in an attempt to restore previous conditions.
3. (countable) The internal distribution of force across a small boundary per unit area of that boundary (pressure) within a body. It causes strain or deformation and is typically symbolised by σ or τ.
4. (countable) Force externally applied to a body which cause internal stress within the body.
5. (uncountable) Emotional pressure suffered by a human being or other animal.
   • Go easy on him, he's been under a lot of stress lately.
6. (broadly, countable) A suprasegmental feature of a language having additional attention raised to a sound, word or word group by means of of loudness, duration or pitch; phonological prominence.
   • lexical stress

   Synonyms:

   emphasis, accent

See all 15 meanings of stress