Definition of acient
1. accent [ n ] distinctive manner of oral expression
Examples:
"he couldn't suppress his contemptuous accent"
"she had a very clear speech pattern"
(Edward P. Lawton, "Northern Liberals and Southern...)
The South 's antipathy to Northern civilization includes such charges as poor manners , harsh accents , lack of appreciation of the arts of living like gastronomy and the use of leisure .
(Tristram Coffin, Not to the Swift....)
A New_York kid , a refugee from one of the Harlem gangs , made_fun of Trig 's accent , and drew a knife .
(William Maxwell, The Chateau....)
`` Le petit_dejeuner '' , Harold said , in an accent that did credit to Miss_Sloan , his high-school French_teacher .
Synonyms accent speech_pattern Related Terms pronunciation pronunciation drawl stress2. accent [ v ] direct attention to, as if by means of contrast
Examples:
"This dress accentuates your nice figure!"
"I set off these words by brackets"
(Mr. America, 4:6...)
Mr._Claude is a specialist in torso development and he has long favored the now famous Weider_Push-Pull_Super-Set technique in which one exercise of the Super-Set is a pressing or `` pushing '' movement which accents one sector of a muscle group in a specific way , followed by a `` pulling '' exercise which works the opposing sector of the same muscle group .
Synonyms emphasize accentuate stress set_off accent bring_out Related Terms deemphasize change stress foreground pick_up raise background3. accent [ n ] special importance or significance
Examples:
"the red light gave the central figure increased emphasis"
"the room was decorated in shades of gray with distinctive red accents"
(Norman Kent, "The Watercolor Art of Roy M. Mason"...)
Long observation has taught Mason that most landscape can be reduced to three essential planes : a foreground in sharp focus - either a light area with dark accents or a dark one with lights ; a middle_distance often containing the major motif ; and a background , usually a silhouetted form foiled against the sky .
Synonyms emphasis accent Related Terms importance stress stress4. accent [ n ] the usage or vocabulary that is characteristic of a specific group of people
Examples:
"the immigrants spoke an odd dialect of English"
"he has a strong German accent"
5. accent [ n ] the relative prominence of a syllable or musical note (especially with regard to stress or pitch)
Examples:
"he put the stress on the wrong syllable"
6. accent [ v ] put stress on; utter with an accent
Examples:
"In Farsi, you accent the last syllable of each word"
7. accent [ v ] to stress, single out as important
Examples: : "Dr. Jones emphasizes exercise in addition to a change in diet."
8. accent [ n ] a diacritical mark used to indicate stress or (in some languages) placed above a vowel to indicate a special pronunciation
Synonyms accent_mark accent Related Terms diacritical_mark acute_accent stress_mark grave_accent languageSimilar Spelling
accentacentric
accentor
accented
accentual
accenting
account
acanthus
acned
acanthous
acanthoma
acanthoid
acanthion
