accentuate

English

WOTD – 17 January 2008

Etymology

• First attested in 1731.
• (emphasize): First attested in 1865.
• From Medieval Latin accentuātus, past participle of accentuāre, from Latin accentus.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, US) IPA^(key): /əkˈsɛn.t͡ʃu.eɪt/, /ækˈsɛn.t͡ʃuˌeɪt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

Verb

accentuate (third-person singular simple present accentuates, present participle accentuating, simple past and past participle accentuated)

1. (transitive) To pronounce with an accent or vocal stress.
2. (transitive) To bring out distinctly; to make more noticeable or prominent; to emphasize.
   • 1898, H. G. Wells, The War of the Worlds/Book 2/Chapter 3:

     our danger and insolation only accentuated the incompatibility

   • 1913, Robert Barr, chapter 5, in Lord Stranleigh Abroad‎^[1]:

     These were business hours, and a feeling of loneliness crept over him, perhaps germinated by his sight of the illustrated papers, and accentuated by an attempted perusal of them.

   • 1962 March, “The New Year Freeze-up on British Railways”, in Modern Railways, page 159:

     Attempts by Waterloo signalmen to clear the points by power operation eventually exhausted point motor batteries, which are fed by trickle chargers, and a blown fuse accentuated the problem; thus, even when the points had been cleared of ice, no power was available to operate them until the batteries were sufficiently recharged.

3. (transitive) To mark with a written accent.

Synonyms

• accent, betone

Derived terms

• accentuable
• accentuator
• misaccentuate
• overaccentuate
• reaccentuate
• unaccentuated

 

Related terms

• accentual
• accentuation

Translations

to pronounce with an accent

• Armenian: շեշտել (hy) (šeštel)
• Belarusian: акцэнтава́ць impf or pf (akcentavácʹ)
• Bulgarian: акцентувам (bg) (akcentuvam), поставям ударение pf (postavjam udarenie)
• Catalan: accentuar (ca)
• Dutch: beklemtonen (nl), accentueren (nl)
• Esperanto: akcenti
• Finnish: korostaa (fi), painottaa (fi), sävyttää (fi)
• French: accentuer (fr)
• German: akzentuieren (de)
• Irish: aiceannaigh
• Italian: accentuare (it)
• Latvian: akcentēt, uzsvērt
• Macedonian: нагла́сува (naglásuva), акценти́ра (akcentíra)
• Norwegian: aksentuere (no), betone
• Polish: akcentować (pl)
• Portuguese: acentuar (pt)
• Russian: акценти́ровать (ru) (akcentírovatʹ), ста́вить ударе́ние impf (stávitʹ udarénije), поста́вить ударе́ние pf (postávitʹ udarénije)
• Slovene: naglasiti
• Spanish: acentuar (es)
• Swedish: accentuera (sv), betona (sv)
• Turkish: vurgulamak (tr)
• Ukrainian: акцентува́ти (uk) impf or pf (akcentuváty), наголо́шувати impf (naholóšuvaty), наголоси́ти pf (naholosýty)

to bring out distinctly

• Bulgarian: подчертавам (bg) (podčertavam), акцентирам (akcentiram)
• Catalan: accentuar (ca)
• Dutch: benadrukken (nl), beklemtonen (nl)
• Finnish: korostaa (fi), tehostaa (fi), tuoda esiin
• French: accentuer (fr)
• German: betonen (de), akzentuieren (de)
• Italian: accentuare (it)
• Latvian: akcentēt, uzsvērt
• Luxembourgish: accentuéieren
• Norwegian: aksentuere (no), betone, framheve
• Persian: تأکید کردن (ta'kid kardan)
• Polish: akcentować (pl) impf, uwypuklić pf, uwypuklać impf, uwydatnić (pl) pf, uwydatniać (pl) impf, podkreślić (pl) pf, podkreślać (pl) impf
• Portuguese: acentuar (pt)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Roman: istàknuti (sh) pf, naglásiti (sh) pf

• Spanish: acentuar (es)
• Swedish: accentuera (sv), betona (sv)

to mark with a written accent

• Armenian: շեշտել (hy) (šeštel)
• Bulgarian: поставям ударение (postavjam udarenie)
• Catalan: accentuar (ca)
• Dutch: beklemtonen (nl)
• Finnish: merkitä aksentit
• French: accentuer (fr)
• German: hervorheben (de)
• Italian: accentare (it)
• Macedonian: акценти́ра (akcentíra)
• Norwegian: aksentuere (no)
• Polish: akcentować (pl)
• Portuguese: acentuar (pt)
• Russian: проставля́ть ударе́ние impf (prostavljátʹ udarénije), проста́вить ударе́ние pf (prostávitʹ udarénije), ста́вить ударе́ние impf (stávitʹ udarénije), поста́вить ударе́ние pf (postávitʹ udarénije)
• Spanish: acentuar (es)
• Swedish: accentuera (sv)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Interlingua: ^{(please verify)} accentuar

Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /at.t͡ʃen.tuˈa.te/, /at.t͡ʃenˈtwa.te/
• Rhymes: -ate
• Hyphenation: ac‧cen‧tu‧à‧te, ac‧cen‧tuà‧te

Etymology 1

Participle

accentuate f pl

1. feminine plural of accentuato

Adjective

accentuate f pl

1. feminine plural of accentuato

Etymology 2

Verb

accentuate

1. inflection of accentuare:
   1. second-person plural present indicative
   2. second-person plural imperative