Prestress

adj, verb

adj, verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To apply stress to structural components in order to produce a tension that counteracts the loads to which the component is subjected in its designed use.
Adjective
  1. 1
    Before a stress (emphasis placed on a syllable of a word). not-comparable

    "Thus, the acute accent is typically characterized by an F₀-maximum in the prestress syllable and an F₀-minimum in the stressed syllable, while for the grave accent the corresponding F₀-maximum occurs in the stressed syllable and the F₀-minimum in the poststress syllable."

Example

More examples

"Thus, the acute accent is typically characterized by an F₀-maximum in the prestress syllable and an F₀-minimum in the stressed syllable, while for the grave accent the corresponding F₀-maximum occurs in the stressed syllable and the F₀-minimum in the poststress syllable."

Etymology

From pre- + stress.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.