Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
😌 To relax 🔈 To remove emphasis
to unstress

to unstress

6.3
Make a sound in a word weaker or reduce force in a part of an object
  • verb
  • /ʌnˈstrɛs/
translation icon : desacentuar (fonética)
  • When teaching pronunciation, you should help students unstress syllables that are less emphasized in a word.
  • unstressed syllable

Examples

  • To create a more natural sound, speakers often need to unstress some of the less prominent syllables.

  • In phonetics, it's important to learn how to unstress certain vowels to improve clarity in speech.

  • In addition, increased age was associated with decreased duration of unstressed vowels, with the most noticeable difference occurring between ages 2 and 3 years.

    Academic text (2012)

  • This codes whether a syllable or articulatory gesture will have primary or secondary stress or be unstressed.

    Academic text (2012)

  • The 7-year-olds in that study were not producing adult-like unstressed syllable durations.

    Academic text (2012)

  • After a 10-minute statically applied pressure was released, the time for the temperature difference between the stressed site and an unstressed site 10 to 15 cm away to reach either a maximum or a constant value was assessed.

    Academic text (2000)

  • Unstressed (weak) syllables.

    Academic text (2012)

  • In addition, our results show that 7-year-old typically developing children still do not have an adult-like capability to mark stressed and unstressed syllables in WS words on sets.

    Academic text (2012)

  • The same study found that infants also retain the order of syllables in a string based on the presence of both stressed and unstressed syllables. Children develop the foundations for producing lexical stress patterns within their first year.

    Academic text (2012)

Synonyms

to relax
vsto unstress
78 1.0

To make or become less tight

is to remove or reduce stress especially in speech or materials
to unwind
vsto unstress
35 3.4

Become relaxed and less tense after work or a stressful time

is not limited to personal rest and also covers speech and materials
to decompress
vsto unstress
  • Informal
11 4.2

Relax and become less tense after work or stress

often denotes removing physical stress in materials or pronunciation too
to destress
vsto unstress
  • Specialized
6.1

Make a syllable or word less strong when you speak

is used more generally to remove stress in speech or materials
to relieve stress
vsto unstress
  • Specialized
5.8

To reduce forces inside a metal or glass, usually by heating it

is the general act of reducing stress including speech and materials
to unbend
vsto unstress
6.0

Make a rope or line less tight

is broader referring to removing stress in speech or materials
to unlax
vsto unstress
  • Archaic
9.9

To make the body or mind less tense

is the common term for reducing stress in many contexts
to uncramp
vsto unstress
5.6

To free a part of your body from a tight painful position

is narrower focusing on freeing tight positions rather than speech
to unstrain
vsto unstress
7.8

To make muscles or nerves feel less tight after stress

focuses also on reducing stress in speech and physical materials

How Stressed

to relieve stress
  • Specialized
5.8
to relieve
166 2.3
to unstress
6.3

Surface Forms

unstress infinitive
unstressed past
unstressed past participle
unstressing present participle
unstresses third person singular

Morphology

unstress = stress (transparent) = un + stress

Productive negation 'un-' applied to 'stress' yields the literal meaning 'to remove or reduce stress' in pronunciation or materials, which is directly inferable.

Etymology

Unstress is made from un- 'not' and stress 'pressure' or 'emphasis'. So to unstress a syllable or a metal part is to make it less strong or less under pressure.