accentuate

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): /əkˈsen.t͡ʃu.eɪt/, /ækˈsen.t͡ʃuˌeɪt/

• Audio (US)

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• Audio (AU)

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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:

     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

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) 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

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Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /at.t͡ʃen.tuˈa.te/, /at.t͡ʃenˈtwa.te/[1]
• Rhymes: -ate
• Hyphenation: ac‧cen‧tu‧à‧te, ac‧cen‧tuà‧te

Participle

accentuate f pl

1. feminine plural of accentuato

Adjective

accentuate f pl

1. feminine plural of accentuato

Verb

accentuate

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

References

1. accentuale in Luciano Canepari, Dizionario di Pronuncia Italiana (DiPI)