# stress

Pronunciation: say "STRES" /stɹɛs/

## Noun

1. Emotional pressure or strain experienced by a person or animal under difficult conditions.
   - Simple: Worry and pressure felt in the mind when life feels too hard.
   - _Chronic stress can weaken the body's defenses over time._
   - _Caregivers often experience considerable stress when looking after sick relatives._
4. A condition or agent, such as heat, drought, or infection, that strains an organism and prompts it to respond.
   - Simple: Something that puts a living thing under strain and makes it respond, such as heat, drought, or infection.
   - _Environmental stress can slow a plant's growth until conditions improve._
   - _The organism responds to stress by activating its repair systems._
5. The internal distribution of force per unit area across a boundary within a body, causing strain or deformation and commonly symbolized by σ or τ.
   - Simple: How much inside force pushes across each small area within an object.
   - _The maximum stress occurs at the inner edge of the curved beam._
   - _Shear stresses develop wherever layers of material slide past one another._
6. An external force applied to a body that produces internal stress within it.
   - Simple: A force pushing or pulling on an object from the outside.
   - _The crane applied a sudden stress to the support cable._
   - _Different stresses act on a bridge as traffic crosses it._
8. Extra prominence given to a syllable or word in speech, through loudness, length, or pitch.
   - Simple: The extra force you give to one part of a word, or one word, when you say it.
   - _Primary stress falls on the second syllable of 'banana.'_
   - _Some languages use stress to tell apart otherwise identical words._
10. Extra importance attached to a point when arguing or discussing something in speech or writing.
   - Simple: Extra attention given to a point to show that it matters.
   - _The report places particular stress on the need for reform._
   - _In her argument, the heaviest stress fell on fairness._

## Verb

2. To give emphasis to a particular point in an argument or discussion.
   - Simple: To say that a point or idea is very important.
   - _Experts stress that early treatment improves recovery._
   - _She stressed the importance of meeting the deadline._
3. To worry or feel agitated; to suffer from emotional pressure. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: To feel very worried or upset about something.
   - _She tends to stress whenever deadlines start piling up._
   - _Try not to stress over things you cannot control._
7. To cause a person or animal to feel emotional pressure or tension.
   - Simple: To make a person or animal feel worried or upset.
   - _Loud fireworks stress many pets during holiday celebrations._
   - _Long commutes and tight deadlines can stress even the calmest workers._
9. To say a syllable or word with more force or prominence than the sounds around it.
   - Simple: To say part of a word, or a word, more strongly than the rest.
   - _English speakers stress the second syllable of 'about.'_
   - _He stressed the final syllable, giving the name a French sound._
11. To produce strain in an object or structure by pushing or pulling on it.
   - Simple: To push or pull on something hard enough to bend or strain it.
   - _Repeated heavy loads stress the steel beams over time._
   - _Engineers stressed the prototype wing until it bent._

## Noun

12. Obsolete form of distress. *(obsolete)* — Obsolete form of distress.
   - Simple: Obsolete form of distress. You will only find it in very old writing.

## Other meanings

- (noun) The act of seizing property to enforce payment of a debt, or the property so seized.

## Origin

The word comes from a shortening of Middle English 'destresse', borrowed from Old French 'destrece' and ultimately from Latin 'distringō' ('to stretch out'). It probably merged with Middle English 'stresse', from Old French 'estrece' ('narrowness') and Latin 'strictus' ('narrow'). The 'mental strain' sense was used occasionally by researchers such as the physiologist Walter Cannon in the 1920s and 1930s, and the 'biological threat' sense was used by endocrinologist Hans Selye by metaphor with stress in physics, becoming popular in the 1950s.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/stress (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).