1. The relative prominence of a syllable or musical note (especially with regard to stress or pitch)
   "he put the accent on the wrong syllable";
   - stress, emphasis
    
2. (language) a diacritical mark used to indicate stress or placed above a vowel to indicate a special pronunciation
   "The acute accent mark in 'café' indicates a specific pronunciation";
   - accent mark
    
3. Distinctive manner of oral expression
   "he couldn't suppress his contemptuous accent";
   - speech pattern
    
4. The usage or vocabulary that is characteristic of a specific group of people
   "he has a strong German accent";
   - dialect, idiom
    
5. Special importance or significance
   "the room was decorated in shades of grey with distinctive red accents";
   - emphasis

1. Put stress on; utter with an accent
   "In Farsi, you accent the last syllable of each word";
   - stress, accentuate
    
2. Single out as important; draw attention to (something)
   "The red tie accented his dark suit";
   - stress, emphasize, emphasise [Brit], punctuate, accentuate

Derived forms: accents, accenting, accented

Type of: articulate, diacritic, diacritical mark, enounce [archaic], enunciate, evince [formal], express, grandness, importance, inflection, non-standard speech, pronounce, pronunciation, prosody, say, show, sound out

Encyclopedia: Accent