stress noun

1 state of tension

ADJ. acute, considerable, extreme, great, high, severe Separation is a time of high emotional stress. | excessive | greater, increased | low | daily the daily stress of teaching | emotional, mental, psychological, social | economic, financial The high mortgage payments put them under severe financial stress.

QUANT. level Many workers experience a high level of stress in their daily life.

VERB + STRESS cause, create A divorce causes children great emotional stress. | avoid, remove | add to, increase | reduce, relieve | be under, experience, have, suffer (from) He's been under a lot of stress lately. | cope with, handle, manage, stand, take He's had to give up his job as leader of the project?he just couldn't take the stress.

STRESS + VERB bring sth about/on an illness brought on by stress

STRESS + NOUN level high stress levels | control, management Staff are encouraged to go on stress management courses.

PREP. under ~ He broke under stress and had to leave.

PHRASES a source of stress An overcrowded workplace can be a major source of stress. | a symptom of stress Tiredness is one of the most common symptoms of stress.

2 emphasis that shows importance

ADJ. enormous, great | particular, special | equal | undue

VERB + STRESS lay, place, put I must lay great stress on the need for secrecy.

PREP. with the ~ on a study of child development, with the stress on acquisition of social skills | ~ on There's been a lot of stress on getting drug sellers off the streets.

3 emphasis on a word, syllable, etc.

ADJ. main, major, primary, strong | secondary, weak | sentence, word

VERB + STRESS carry, have, take Italian words usually have the main stress on the penultimate syllable in the word. The first syllable takes the stress. | place, put | mark Mark the primary stress in each word.

STRESS + VERB fall, go Where does the stress fall in ‘psychological’?

STRESS + NOUN mark | pattern

PREP. ~ on There's a stress on the second syllable.

4 physical force

ADJ. enormous, high | low | constant | equal There is equal stress on all parts of the structure.

VERB + STRESS exert, set up The tower exerts an enormous stress on the walls. The movements set up stresses in the earth's crust. | apply, put, subject sth to Stress is applied to the wood to make it bend. Standing all day puts stress on your feet. The buttresses are subjected to constant stress. | bear, take, withstand | increase, reduce | transfer, transmit | calculate Engineers calculated the stresses borne by each of the bridge supports.

PREP. under ~ Some woods warp under stress.

stress verb

ADV. heavily, strongly He stressed the point very strongly that all these services cost money. | constantly, continually, repeatedly She has constantly stressed the government's poor record in this area. | rightly Doctors have rightly stressed the importance of exercise.

VERB + STRESS can only, must I must stress that we still know very little about this disease. | tend to Private schools tend to stress the more academic subjects. | be anxious to, be at pains to, be careful to, be keen to She is at pains to stress the cultural differences between the two countries. | be important to

PHRASES be worth stressing sth It is worth stressing that this was only a relatively small survey.

You can also check other dicts: stress (English, 中文解释 ), wordnet sense, Collins Definition

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