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Glite Dictionary
✨ To highlight 🗣️ To stress in speech
to accentuate

to accentuate

1 6.0
To say a syllable or word with extra stress when speaking
  • verb
  • /əkˈsɛnʧuˌeɪt/
: acentuar
  • Would it be too much to suggest that critics accentuate the positive or at least offer options that they favor?

Examples

  • You got to accentuate the I's, you know?

    You Got Served (2004)

  • The third step is you have to accentuate the things that you're doing that are moving you toward the target.

  • And next we want to accentuate just above the brows, above them, and then right below them too.

  • He's not accentuating one part of his platform and de-emphasizing another.

    Blog text (13)

  • A school conductor who accentuates only the technical components of the music on the page is ignoring one of the important aspects of his or her ensemble: the philosophy of teamwork.

    Academic text (2010)

  • When you recite the poem, be sure to accentuate the words that convey strong emotions.

  • To make your speech more impactful, you should accentuate the key phrases that highlight your main points.

  • In music class, the teacher advised us to accentuate the downbeat for better rhythm.

Synonyms

to emphasize
vsto accentuate
  • US
321 3.7

To show that something is very important

applies specifically to spoken syllables rather than to things in general
to accent
vsto accentuate
1 3.9

To put extra stress on a syllable when speaking

puts stress on a syllable to emphasize its sound when speaking
to stress
vsto accentuate
1 3.3

To say one syllable louder or with a higher pitch

focuses on making a syllable stronger so it stands out when spoken

Antonyms

to diminish
147 3.7

To become less in size, importance, or value

to understate
18 5.2

To make something seem smaller or less important than it really is

How Emphatic

to accentuate
1 6.0
to emphasize
  • US
321 3.7
to de-emphasize
  • US
4 5.3

Surface Forms

accentuate infinitive
accentuated past
accentuated past participle
accentuating present participle
accentuates third person singular

Morphology

accentuate = accent (semi-transparent) = accent + uate

The transformation to a verb meaning 'to emphasize' is not a direct derivation from 'accent'.

Etymology

Accentuate comes from the same idea as accent and chant, from the old word cantare meaning 'to sing'. So to accentuate a syllable is like giving it a little 'song' or extra voice, making it stronger when you speak.