accentuate
English
WOTD – 17 January 2008
Etymology
- First attested in 1731.
- (emphasize): First attested in 1865.
- From Medieval Latin accentuātus, past participle of accentuāre, from Latin accentus.
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation, US) IPA(key): /əkˈsɛn.t͡ʃu.eɪt/, /ækˈsɛn.t͡ʃuˌeɪt/
Audio (US) (file) Audio (AU) (file)
Verb
accentuate (third-person singular simple present accentuates, present participle accentuating, simple past and past participle accentuated)
- (transitive) To pronounce with an accent or vocal stress.
- (transitive) To bring out distinctly; to make more noticeable or prominent; to emphasize.
- 1898, H. G. Wells, The War of the Worlds/Book 2/Chapter 3:
- our danger and insolation only accentuated the incompatibility
- 1913, Robert Barr, chapter 5, in Lord Stranleigh Abroad:
- These were business hours, and a feeling of loneliness crept over him, perhaps germinated by his sight of the illustrated papers, and accentuated by an attempted perusal of them.
- 1962 March, “The New Year Freeze-up on British Railways”, in Modern Railways, page 159:
- Attempts by Waterloo signalmen to clear the points by power operation eventually exhausted point motor batteries, which are fed by trickle chargers, and a blown fuse accentuated the problem; thus, even when the points had been cleared of ice, no power was available to operate them until the batteries were sufficiently recharged.
- (transitive) To mark with a written accent.
Related terms
Translations
to pronounce with an accent
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to bring out distinctly
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to mark with a written accent
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
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Italian
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /at.t͡ʃen.tuˈa.te/, /at.t͡ʃenˈtwa.te/[1]
- Rhymes: -ate
- Hyphenation: ac‧cen‧tu‧à‧te, ac‧cen‧tuà‧te
Verb
accentuate
- inflection of accentuare:
- second-person plural present indicative
- second-person plural imperative
References
- accentuale in Luciano Canepari, Dizionario di Pronuncia Italiana (DiPI)
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