accented

1. 1
   adjective

   Spoken with a distinctive regional or foreign pronunciation, or bearing a diacritical mark on a letter.

   His lightly accented speech gave away that he had grown up abroad.

   The keyboard layout made it easy to type accented characters.

   Oppositeunaccented

   Note

   A describing word that takes degrees, at least where speech is concerned: an English more accented than his brother's, the most accented voice in the room. Adverbs of degree sit naturally in front of it, as in lightly accented or heavily accented. A written letter is simply accented or not, so the comparative belongs to pronunciation rather than to diacritical marks.

2. 2
   verb

   Simple past and past participle of accent.

   The architect accented the entrance with two tall stone columns.

   Each headline was accented in bold red type for emphasis.

   Note

   One spelling serves as both past tense and participle, as with any regular verb: she accented the second syllable; the second syllable was accented; he has accented every vowel. The verb covers three acts: stressing a syllable aloud, making something stand out, and adding written accent marks. In the passive, the participle shades easily into the adjective for having an accent, so the action and the description can look identical.

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