Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Linguistics Not stressed or accented.
- adjective Not exposed or subjected to stress.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Not pronounced with stress, as a vowel; unaccented.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective of a vowel not
stressed oraccentuated - adjective not subject to
stress
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective not bearing a stress or accent
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
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Examples
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Gabe dw: I only have a weak separation between [ɪ] and [ə] in unstressed syllables, so have trouble telling them apart.
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Easy winters and plentiful food result in unstressed bucks that tend to hold antlers longer.
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Easy winters and plentiful food result in unstressed bucks that tend to hold antlers longer.
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Unlike English, which usually reduces unstressed vowels to "uh", Spanish pronounces all vowels, stressed or not, very clearly.
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Who knew, for instance, that iambs an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed one make feminine-sounding names, such as Chanel, while the reverse—called a trochee—has the masculine sound of Black & Decker?
The Soul of Brevity Daniel Akst 2011
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If man is a stressed syllable, the word feels less neutral than if man is an unstressed syllable (spokesMAN vs. SPOKESman).
Why do so many people hate gender-neutral words? (Oh, s—!) « Motivated Grammar 2010
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I have to admit that congressperson has always sounded very strange to me, so I still do occasionally use congressman in generic cases, but I do so with a very unstressed final syllable.
Why do so many people hate gender-neutral words? (Oh, s—!) « Motivated Grammar 2010
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At 9: 47, my friend entered the restaurant, apologizing profusely but looking strikingly unstressed.
Sick of This Text: 'Sorry I'm Late' Elizabeth Bernstein 2010
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Unlike English, which usually reduces unstressed vowels to "uh", Spanish pronounces all vowels, stressed or not, very clearly.
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Unlike English, which usually reduces unstressed vowels to "uh", Spanish pronounces all vowels, stressed or not, very clearly.
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