accentn.
/ˈaks(ə)nt/, U.S. /ˈækˌsɛnt/ I. A mark or sign.
1. Any of a set of marks originally used with a letter to indicate the nature and position of the spoken accent, later of stress, in a written word; (also) any of these and other marks used to distinguish different qualities of sound indicated by a letter.Originally, with reference to Greek and Latin, the set was limited to three members, the acute, circumflex, and grave accent, for which see also the first element. See also straight accent n. at straight adj. 2f.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > writing > written character > [noun] > written character not a letter > diacritic
accentOE
tittle1538
verge1555
point1614
diacritic1866
supersign1907
OE Byrhtferð Enchiridion (Ashm.) (1995) iii. iii. 174 Tyn hiw habbað þa boceras on heora gesetnyssum, mid þam hig todælað and amearkiað heora accentas.
OE Byrhtferð Enchiridion (Ashm.) (1995) iii. iii. 174 Oxia ys acutus accentus, þæt ys gescyrpt accent.
1571 A. Golding tr. J. Calvin Psalmes of Dauid with Comm. (lxxiv. 5) I (although the accent repugn against it) doubte not, but that the sence which I have set down is the native sence.
a1599 E. Spenser View State Ireland in J. Ware Two Hist. Ireland (1633) 30 Being likewise distinguished with pricke and accent, as theirs aunciently.
1611 J. Florio Queen Anna's New World of Words Accento: an accent or point ouer anie letter to giue it a due sound.
1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues Accentuer: to marke, note, or pronounce, with an Accent.
c1620 A. Hume Of Orthogr. Britan Tongue (1870) i. ix. §6 The grave accent is never noated, but onelie understood in al syllabes quherin the acute and circumflex is not.
1683 H. Reilly Let. 10 Jan. in R. Boyle Corr. (2001) V. 377 The Translator..was not very well skilld in the Irish Tongue... The Transcriber is still much to blame, whether most for the Ignorance or for his Carelessness I cannot tell for he neither mends his Orthography, nor takes care to place his Accents, when he dos not wholly omit them, over the right Vowels.
1705 tr. A. Dacier in tr. Aristotle Art of Poetry xxvi. 469 Hippias of Thasos salves that Poet, by shewing, that instead of δίδομεν, Let us give, he writ it with an Accent on the Penultima διδόμεν.
1764 Monthly Rev. Apr. 333 Whether we ought to retain or remove the Accents from our future impressions of Greek books.
1807 J. Robinson Archæol. Græca v. xiii. 470 The ancient Greeks used no accents, which are supposed to have been invented and introduced about two hundred years before Jesus Christ.
1846 T. Wright Ess. Middle Ages I. i. 9 The [Anglo-Saxon] scribes not only omitted accents, but they often accentuated words wrongly.
1891 A. Lang Angling Sketches 122 The happy-go-lucky disposition to scatter my Greek accents as it were with a pepper-caster.
1932 G. P. Krapp Paris Psalter & Meters of Boethius Introd. p. xvi The word gōd, ‘good’, is frequently written with an accent, to distinguish it from gŏd, ‘God’, which is not accented.
1961 S. Resnick Essent. French Gram. (1965) 15 The above accents do not indicate any special voice stress on the syllable where they occur.
1996 Amer. Scientist July 412/2 What are known as ‘accents’ (acute, umlaut, etc.) to most scientists and to EndNote are known only as ‘diacritics’ to ProCite.
2010 R. E. Batchelor & M. Á. San José Ref. Gram. Spanish i. iii. 26 All exceptions to these rules require a written accent over the accented syllable.
2. Any of various cantillation marks placed over and under the consonants in the written text of the Hebrew Bible, serving as signs of tone and of interpunctuation. Also: †figurative a minute particular (of the Mosaic law) (obsolete. rare).
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > writing > written character > [noun] > written character not a letter > diacritic > Hebrew diacritic
accent1583
makaf1593
metheg1593
1583 W. Fulke Def. Transl. Script. Answ. Pref. 52 If you will beleeue Arias Montanus, an excellent learned Papiste, he will tell you as much, out of the same text doubtles, in his Preface vnto the great Bible by him set out, with diligent obseruation of all the Accents & Hebrue points, which Christ (sayth he) will neuer suffer to perish.
1610 P. Holland tr. W. Camden Brit. i. 443 That we, who sift every pricke and accent of the law, may see the upright simplicity and plaine dealing of that age.
1659 B. Walton Considerator Considered 264 The Masorites..invented the names and figures of the vowels and accents, which they have left to posterity; though the later Grammarians herein differ from the ancienter about the names, nature, number, and use.
1698 W. Cross (title) The taghmical art: or the art of expounding Scripture by the points usually called accents, but are really tactical.
1705 P. Levi Compend. Hebrew Gram. v. 14 Two of these Accents stand to sweeten the Pronunciation, and prevent too much swiftness in Reading; the one is Metheg, and the other is Pesik.
1738 R. Grey New Method learning Hebrew Pref. 4 A great Number of superfluous Vowels, Points, and Accents, and..Rules for the changing and re-changing of them.
1797 Encycl. Brit. VIII. 366/1 It is no wonder, then, that there are more accents in the Hebrew than in other languages, since they perform the office of three different things.
1847 Eng. Rev. Dec. 82 It is well known how greatly the printing the Hebrew text with the vowel-points and accents adds to the expense of a work.
1887 Athenæum 17 Dec. 820/1 As considerable attention is paid to the [Hebrew] accents, the author should know that tiphca is not a minor distinctive, but one of the four kings or great distinctives.
1913 N.E.D at Tittle Any one of the Hebrew and Arabic vowel-points and accents.
1957 F. L. Cross Oxf. Dict. Christian Church 872/1 Massoretes, the Jewish grammarians who..introduced into the Hebrew text of the OT..a system of vowel points and accents.
2001 Vetus Testamentum 51 414 One weakness of this book lies in its treatment of Hebrew accents, which is rather less thorough than one would expect from a Reference Grammar.
3. Music. A mark in an early text indicative of a musical or quasi-musical intonation or a punctuating phrase. Also: any of the wedge-shaped and other marks denoting emphasis in a score.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > music > written or printed music > notation > [noun] > character in notation > point
prick1482
accent1603
point1655
dash-line1684
1603 H. Clapham Three Partes Salomon Song of Songs Expounded iii. xxix. 259 Athnach supplieth our Comma noted thus (,) except in such places we should holde it an accent Musicall, rather than Grammaticall.
1692 J. Dunton Young-students-libr. 289/2 So also do some, from the Objection about the Musical Accents, bring an Argument for the Antiquity of the Points: For these Accents direct to the Modulation of the Voice, for the uniform singing the Psalms which were most peculiar to the Ezraitical state of the Church.
1737 Gentleman's Mag. Jan. 9/1 Whatever Musical or Tonical Notes were expressed in the Accents of the Text.
1786 tr. W. Beauford in J. C. Walker Hist. Mem. Irish Bards I. iii. 264 The Ceol in this case marked the middle tone or pitch of the voice, (being the same as the Latin Modicus,) and in our language was seldom denoted by any character, the syllables in this pitch being left without an accent.
1864 W. Sandys & S. A. Forster Hist. Violin iv. 59 These neumes were arbitrary characters or accents, several in number, which superseded the letters previously in use, and were placed over the words to be sung, a separate value, or power, or pitch, being attached to each.
1917 F. L. Cohen in Encycl. Relig. & Ethics IX. 52/1 A trope (brief melodic phrase) is chanted on the tone-syllable marked by the accent, and the general reciting-note carries on to the next accented syllable.
1975 H. Ferguson Keyboard Interpr. 159 As a rule it can be taken that any dynamic mark in Beethoven remains in force until it is contradicted: and that accents, including sfs, should be read within the prevailing dynamic level.
2003 R. Gillam Unicode Demystified ii. xii. 491 We can make our eighth note into a dotted eighth note and add an accent to it..by adding the appropriate combining characters.
II. An aspect of vocal or musical sound.
4.
a. The way in which anything is said or sung; a style of pronunciation, a manner of utterance, a tone or quality of voice; a character of sound; a musical or quasi-musical intonation of the voice; a modulation or modification of the voice expressing feeling.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > speech > manner of speaking > [noun]
speechc1000
saying1340
accenta1398
tonguec1460
diction1563
address1581
elocution1604
tone1687
a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add.) xix. cxxxi. f. 333v Tonus is þe scharpnesse of voice and is difference and quantite of armony and stondeþ in accent [L. accentu] and tenor of vois.
1500 Ortus Vocabulorum at Accentus Accentus us. ui. i. sonus proprie tonus. ryghte redynge. or accente.
1546 G. Joye Refut. Byshop Winchesters Derke Declar. f. liiii The sharpe demonstracion called emphasis be intended vpon the later, Sum, in an higher sharper and harder accent.
1570 J. Foxe Actes & Monumentes (rev. ed.) II. 1242/2 He..saied with a sharpe accent.
a1586 Sir P. Sidney Arcadia (1590) i. x. sig. F7v The houndes..with a whining Accent crauing libertie.
1592 S. Daniel Delia ii Sigh out a Storie of her cruell deedes, With interrupted accents of despaire.
1609 J. Dowland tr. A. Ornithoparchus Micrologus 69 Accent (as it belonged to Church-men) is a melody, pronouncing regularly the syllables of any words, according as the naturall accent of them requires.
1609 J. Dowland tr. A. Ornithoparchus Micrologus iii. v. 72 Because the Ecclesiasticall accent is commonly knowne by Points, it is necessary to deliuer the nature of certaine Points fitting this purpose.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Othello (1622) i. i. 75 Rod. Ile call aloud. Ia. Doe with like timerous accent, and dire yell. View more context for this quotation
1644 J. Milton Of Educ. 5 And solemnly pronounc't with right accent, and grace.
1700 J. Dryden Char. Good Parson in Fables 532 Mild was his Accent, and his Action free. With Eloquence innate his Tongue was arm'd.
1704 J. Harris Lexicon Technicum I. (at cited word) Accent in Musick, is a Modulation of the Voice, to express the Passions either naturally or artificially.
1716 A. Pope Full Acct. E. Curll 5 What this poor unfortunate Man spoke..was so indistinct, and in such broken Accents.
1725 A. Pope tr. Homer Odyssey III. x. 402 Transform'd to beasts, with accents not their own.
1768 L. Sterne Sentimental Journey I. 123 I thought by the accent, it had been an apostrophe to his child.
1797 A. Radcliffe Italian II. v. 165 ‘Do not leave me,’ said she in accents the most supplicating.
1819 W. Irving Sketch Bk. i. 45 The accents of those we love soften the harshest tidings.
1820 W. Scott Abbot I. ii. 30 Echoing the question with a strong accent of displeasure and surprise.
1847 R. W. Hamilton Rewards & Punishm. (1853) iii. 120 The very accents of consultation are heard.
1887 ‘M. Corelli’ Thelma III. iii. ii. 251 ‘Let me go with thee!’ he implored, in broken accents.
1908 L. M. Montgomery Anne of Green Gables xix. 216 There was a gasp and a cry—and somebody said in muffled accents: ‘Merciful goodness!’
1933 ‘E. M. Delafield’ Provinc. Lady in London 163 I say weakly Well, wouldn't the Pyrenees be very nice in their own way?—but Pamela, to this, exclaims My dear! in shocked accents, and evidently thinks less than nothing of the Pyrenees.
1988 G. Trease Flight of Angels xii. 98 Her voice had altered suddenly, it had taken on an accent of terror.
2008 ‘J. Goodman’ Price of Desire ix. 214 Her accents were charmingly outraged.
b. literary. A significant tone or sound, esp. in speech; a spoken word. †Also in plural: a language, speech (obsolete).
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > linguistics > linguistic unit > word > [noun]
wordOE
diction1416
vocable1440
phrase1552
accent?1553
whid1567
vowel1578
mot1591
accenty1600
quatcha1635
verba1716
verbalism1787
word1825
word1843
dicky1893
vocabulary item1916
monolog1929
dicky bird1932
word-type1936
lexical item1964
lexon1964
?1553 (c1501) G. Douglas Palice of Honour (London) l. 805 in Shorter Poems (2003) 56 On lutis sum thair accentis subtelle. Deuydyt weil and held mesure lang.
1586 G. Pettie & B. Yong tr. S. Guazzo Ciuile Conuersat. (rev. ed.) iv. f. 214 Her eies they be not blacke, her teeth not lillie white, Her nose not small, & all her accents do not sound aright.
a1616 W. Shakespeare King John (1623) v. vi. 15 Pardon me, That any accent breaking from thy tongue, Should scape..mine eare. View more context for this quotation
a1616 W. Shakespeare Julius Caesar (1623) iii. i. 114 How many Ages hence Shall this our lofty Scene be acted ouer, In State vnborne, and Accents yet vnknowne? View more context for this quotation
a1640 P. Massinger City-Madam (1658) v. iii. 76 Does not the object and the accent take you?
1653 H. More Antidote against Atheisme iii. xiii. 160 Were those Musical Accents frozen there for a time, and..the aire relenting and thawing became so harmoniously vocall?
1663 S. Butler Hudibras: First Pt. i. iii. 177 Forcing the Vallies to repeat The Accents of his sad regret.
1715 A. Pope tr. Homer Iliad I. iii. 285 The copious Accents fall, with easy Art.
1746–7 J. Hervey Medit. (1818) 194 The last accents which quiver on your pale, expiring lips.
1777 W. Jones Ode of Petrarch 66 Soft-breathing gales, my dying accents hear.
1817 Ld. Byron Manfred (1868) iii. iv. 312 In thy gasping throat The accents rattle.
1847 R. W. Emerson Poems 12 One accent of the Holy Ghost The heedless world hath never lost.
1909 A. J. Lockhart Birds of Cross 109 She died in the arms of her husband, the last accents from her lips being,—‘Oh, Harding! I am so cold!—so cold!’
1942 R. A. Falkner Wild Notes from Back Woods 27 The voice, That with its dying accents said, ‘My Father! bless my boys!’
2008 L. L. Caruso Honoring Motherhood iii. 99 These words were often remembered as the last accents of a mother's voice.
5. A prominence given to one syllable in a word, or in a phrase, over the adjacent syllables, independently of the means by which this prominence is produced (as pitch, timbre, stress, or, less commonly, duration). Now often synonymous with stress.expiratory, pitch, rhetorical, root, sentence, short, stress, tonic, word accent: see the first element.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > linguistics > study of speech sound > speech sound > intonation, pitch, or stress > [noun] > accent
accentc1475
accentualities1825
c1475 Court of Sapience (Trin. Cambr.) (1927) 1819 (MED) Eche worde yaue hys tyme and accent.
1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement Introd. 16 The frenche men judgyng a worde to be most parfaytly herde, whan his last end is sounded hyghest, use generally to gyve theyr accent upon the last syllable onely.
a1586 Sir P. Sidney Apol. Poetrie (1595) sig. L2 Though wee doe not obserue quantity, yet wee obserue the accent very precisely.
1589 G. Puttenham Arte Eng. Poesie ii. vi. 65 To that which was highest lift vp and most eleuate or shrillest in the eare, they gaue the name of the sharpe accent, to the lowest and most base because it seemed to fall downe rather then to rise vp, they gaue the name of the heauy accent, and that other which seemed in part to lift vp and in part to fall downe, they called the circumflex, or compast accent: and if new termes were not odious, we might very properly call him the (windabout) for so is the Greek word.
a1637 B. Jonson Eng. Gram. i. iii, in Wks. (1640) III All our Vowels are sounded doubtfully. In quantitie, (which is Time) long, or short. Or, in accent, (which is Tune) sharp, or, flat.
1685 Earl of Roscommon Ess. Translated Verse (ed. 2) 16 If you will unequal numbers try, There accents on odd Syllables must lie.
1741 Chambers's Cycl. (ed. 4) (at cited word) Words which have no accent are called Atonics.
1748 J. Mason Ess. Elocution 26 When we distinguish any particular syllable in a word with a strong Voice, it is called Accent; and when we thus distinguish any particular Word in a Sentence it is called Emphasis.
1774 J. Burnet Orig. & Progress Lang. II. 299 We have..accents in English, and syllabical accents too: but they are of a quite different kind from the antient accents.
1809 Portfolio 2nd Ser. 1 501 Privateer, domineer, caravan, have an accent on the first, as well as on the last syllable, though a somewhat less forcible one.
1834 Christian Observer Oct. 637 He says that his Reverend Friend, in the passage ‘Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh,’ laid an accent upon the word shall.
1871 J. Earle Philol. Eng. Tongue xii. 525 Accent is that elevation of the voice which distinguishes one part of a word from another.
1919 Mediator 8 Aug. 12/1 It is pronounced, or, better, they are pronounced—k-nisches, the accent being smeared impartially over the k and the nisches, as in the word k-nuckles, when used in connection with pigs' knuckles.
1955 C. S. Lewis Surprised by Joy v. 80 You must pronounce this all as one word with the accent on the first syllable.
1994 J. Laver Princ. Phonetics 511 The term accent or word-accent is also used for the concept of lexical stress, which can be useful when one wants to distinguish between ‘word-accent’ as the potential for the normal syllabic location of stress in a word, and ‘stress’ as the actual placement on a given occasion.
2009 E. Abramov-van Rijk Parlar Cantando i. v. 173 The hendecasyllable features an obligatory accent on the tenth syllable. Since in the Italian language most words have the stressed accent on the penultimate syllable, the most common type of hendecasyllable is piano.
6. Prosody. Stress laid at more or less fixed intervals on certain syllables of a line or verse, the succession of which constitutes its rhythm or metre; an instance of this.There is some disagreement among prosodists about whether accent and stress are synonymous.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > literature > poetry > versification > rhythm > [noun] > beat > rhythmical or metrical stress
accent1550
stroke1576
impression1643
percussion1674
pulse1677
ictus1752
arsis?1775
elevation1776
thesis1864
upbeat1883
1550 R. Sherry Treat. Schemes & Tropes sig. C.iiv Barbarismus is, when a worde is either naughtely wrytten or pronounced contrary to the ryght law & maner of speakinge. And it is done by addicion, detraccion, chaunging, transposynge, eyther of a letter, a syllable, tyme, accent, or aspiracion.
1589 G. Puttenham Arte Eng. Poesie ii. iii. 59 Your ordinarie rimers vse very much their measures in the odde as nine and eleuen, and the sharpe accent vpon the last sillable, which therefore makes him go ill fauouredly.
1598 W. Shakespeare Love's Labour's Lost iv. ii. 121 You finde not the apostraphas, and so misse the accent . View more context for this quotation
a1627 J. Beaumont Bosworth-field (1629) 109 On halting feet the ragged Poem goes With Accents, neither fitting Verse nor Prose.
1640 S. Daines Orthoepia Anglicana sig. A2v Prosody (which chiefly belongs to Poets) that expostulateth the accent, rythme, quantity, and measure of feet in every word or verse.
?a1649 W. Drummond Notes Ben Jonson's Conversat. (1842) 3 Done [i.e. John Donne], for not keeping of accent, deserved hanging.
1702 E. Bysshe Art Eng. Poetry i. 4 Tis not enough that Verses have their just Number of Syllables; the true Harmony of them depends on a due Observation of the Accent and Pause.
1774 W. Mitford Ess. Harmony Lang. 102 A very musical arrangement of the accents not often used by other poets, particularly rimers.
1822 S. Tillbrook Remarks upon Mod. Hexametrists 73 Why leave the public without a guide to the accents and divisions of the Georgian hexameter?
1871 E. A. Abbott & J. R. Seeley Eng. Lessons for Eng. People 152 Accent in Metre if it fall on any syllable in a word, must fall on the principal Word-accent. Accent in Metre may fall on syllables that have not a distinct word-accent. We can never have three consecutive clearly pronounced syllables without a Metrical Accent.
1907 Trans. & Proc. Amer. Philol. Assoc. 38 p. xvi Latin metric art of the first period was a rhythm of accent contrasted and harmonized with a rhythm of ictus through the good offices of the ictuo-accentual or procatalectic foot.
1930 T. Sasaki On Lang. R. Bridges' Poetry 91 It has been the rule in the English blank verse since Chaucer not to tolerate stress-shift (or inversion of accent) in the fifth foot.
1973 Word 1970 26 56 None or as many as six slacks may appear between such isochronous accents, though one, two, or three slacks are more normal.
1993 M. Novak in M. Benedikt Cyberspace 229 Tools of poets: image and rhythm, meter and accent, alliteration and rhyme.
2009 R. Lumsden Reading Lit. after Deconstruction iv. 172 [G. S.] Fraser's is typical of the confusion of the orthodox view he represents in trying to defer to variability in scansion while maintaining metre as a normative measure. It is this Janus-faced image of accent in poetry which needs to be contested.
7.
a. A way of pronouncing a language that is distinctive to a country, area, social class, or individual.See also Oxford accent n. at Oxford n. and adj. Compounds 2.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > speech > manner of speaking > accent > [noun]
accent1596
tang1669
tonea1680
twang1699
cadence1726
blas1906
yack1957
1596 Raigne of Edward III sig. B4 And then spoke broad, With epithites and accents of the Scot.
1602 S. Daniel Musophilus st. cli. Our accent's equal to the best.
a1616 W. Shakespeare As you like It (1623) iii. ii. 331 Your accent is something finer, then you could purchase in so remoued a dwelling. View more context for this quotation
c1620 A. Hume Of Orthogr. Britan Tongue (1870) i. ix. §1 We fynd..the south and north to differ more in accent then symbol.
1678 T. Otway Friendship in Fashion i. 10 He pronounces his English in singing with a French kind of a Tone or Accent, that gives it a strange beauty.
1711 J. Addison Spectator No. 29. ¶4 The Tone, or (as the French call it) the Accent of every Nation in their ordinary Speech, is altogether different from that of every other People... By the Tone or Accent, I do not mean the Pronunciation of each particular Word, but the Sound of the whole Sentence.
1765 D. Hume Let. 12 May (1932) I. 502 Hugh retains still a little of a foreign Accent, but it is wearing out gradually. Mr Liston speaks so well as to be able to pass himself for a Gascon!
1789 T. Jefferson Wks. (1859) II. 559 He spoke French without the least foreign accent.
1791 J. Boswell Life Johnson anno 1772 I. 360 Sir A.: I have been correcting several Scotch accents in my friend Boswell.
1841 T. Carlyle On Heroes iii. 135 Accent is a kind of chaunting; all men have accent of their own,—though they only notice that of others.
1860 N. Hawthorne Marble Faun I. xii. 140 There is Anglo-Saxon blood in her veins..and a right English accent on her tongue.
a1894 R. L. Stevenson Amateur Emigrant (1895) 3 Through the thin partition you can hear the steerage passengers being sick, the rattle of tin dishes as they sit at meals, the varied accents in which they converse.
1917 ‘O. Douglas’ Setons xiv. 225 Mr. Christie called you a ‘gentlemanly fellow’, and Mrs. Christie said, speaking for herself, she had no objection to the Cockney accent, she rather liked it!
1937 ‘G. Orwell’ Road to Wigan Pier x. 195 There is the type who remains working-class—who..does not bother to change his working-class accent and habits, but who ‘improves his mind’ in his spare time and works for the I.L.P. or the Communist Party.
1960 ‘J. Winton’ We saw Sea (1963) ii. 29 ‘Man, man, that was endsville,’ the young man moaned in an American accent.
1972 M. F. Wakelin Eng. Dial. 1 A customary and useful distinction is made between dialect and accent. Quite simply, dialect refers to all the linguistic elements in one form of a language..while accent refers only to pronunciations. Accent is thus the phonetic or phonological aspect of dialect.
1993 A. Higgins Lions of Grunewald xxviii. 177 He's not from Bognor nor Dagenham, but from Dundrum. Listen to that broad Dublin accent.
2008 M. E. Smith & A. Collings Renegade xvi. 198 I can't stand these lads thickening up their accents and singing about shit kisses and cigs and chip shops, this affected realism—it's not that far removed from George Formby.
b. Without possessive or defining word or words: a regional or foreign accent. Not in technical use.
ΚΠ
1808 Port Folio 17 Sept. 178/2 He had so nearly forgotten his native language that he preferred expressing himself in French, which he however spoke with so broad an accent, that it was sometimes difficult for his children to comprehend him.
1817 Mod. Manners I. v. 163 A slight accent betrayed that the person was Irish; and, on inquiring her name, Julia started as that of Farquharson fell upon her ear.
1835 Mil. & Naval Mag. U.S. Jan. 362 His blunders in English afforded diversion, but the explanations cheerfully given soon rendered him more skilful in speaking the language, and at length he betrayed only a slight accent.
1865 J. C. Stretton Queen of County (ed. 3) 128 She has a bad figure, she moves ungracefully, perhaps speaks with an accent.
1892 Proc. Soc. Psychical Res. 8 102 Can you understand me? Sometimes people cannot, because I speak with an accent.
1922 E. Wallace Captains of Souls i. 4 He spoke English without an accent.
1930 H. G. Wells Autocracy Mr. Parham ii. i. 74 Underbred contradictory people with accents and most preposterous views.
1962 Guardian 5 Oct. 9/2 They were poor, they had ‘accents’, the children went to State schools.
1984 G. C. Homans Coming to my Senses iv. 52 Within ten minutes of my arrival at school, my new companions with delighted ridicule taught me that I had an accent. They found my flat a's and nonexistent r's, as in ‘Haavd’ (Harvard) endlessly amusing.
2010 D. Ofri Med. in Transl. vi. 49 My father had an accent!.. I stood stock-still in my kitchen..as I contemplated this jarring reality: my father sounded like a foreigner.
8. Music. A prominence given to a note or chord over adjacent ones, by means of stress, duration or pitch. Also: stress recurring at intervals of time which are generally fixed, but may be varied by syncopation and cross-accentuation; an instance of this.See also cross-accent n. at cross- comb. form 2, grammatical accent n. at grammatical adj. 4b, medial accent n. at medial adj. and n. Compounds, rhythm-accent n. at rhythm n. Compounds 1b, stride accent at stride n. 8.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > music > musical sound > duration of notes > proportion of notes or rhythm > [noun] > beat
accent1603
time1716
beat1911
1603 P. Holland in tr. Plutarch Morals (Gloss.) sig. Zzzzz3 Diesis, the quarter of a note in Musicke; or the least time or accent, G, SOL, RE, UT.
1648 J. Milton To H. Lawes in H. Lawes Choice Psalmes sig. av Harry, whose tunefull and well measur'd song First taught our English Music how to span Words with just note and accent.
1653 H. Moseley in tr. R. Descartes Excellent Compend. Musick To Rdr. sig. a3v They have made the Magick of Sirens to consist only in the sweet Accents and Melotheticall Modulation of their Voices.
1710 J. Hughes in J. C. Pepusch Six Eng. Cantatas Pref. And on the other hand, a composer can never judge where to lay the accent of his music, who does not know, or who is not made sensible, where the words have the greatest beauty and force.
1740 J. Grassineau tr. S. De Brossard Musical Dict. 1 Accent, a certain modulation, or warbling of the sounds, to express the passions, either naturally by the voice, or artifially by instruments.
1790 W. Young in Trans. Royal Soc. Edinb. 2 63 I have here used the term accent in its musical acceptation, to denote that imaginary degree of force or emphasis which a sound acquires from the circumstance of its being the first of a parcel in a rhythmical succession.
1809 J. W. Callcott Mus. Gram. 41 The bars of music are not only useful for dividing the Movement into equal Measures, but also for shewing the Notes upon which the Accent is to be laid... In the course of this work the accented will be termed the strong parts, and the unaccented the weak parts of a measure.
1867 G. A. Macfarren Six Lect. Harmony i. 4 The sense comprising rhythm, accent, and numberless delicate gradations.
1908 Musical Times 49 115/2 Many graces, and the rhythm accent delicate and firm. Just a suspicion of undue staccato.
1927 Melody Maker June 531/3 A rendering from an orchestration or an extemporisation made in this way is usually termed..‘hot’, the word ‘hot’ being intended to convey lilting, dance-inspiring rhythm with the accents irregularly placed but strongly portrayed.
1970 F. Noske French Song from Berlioz to Duparc 165 Sometimes the melodic accent replaces the metric accent.
1989 Atlantic Apr. 89/2 ‘Walkin' With Mr. Lee’ spotlights the tenor saxophonist Lee Allen in a swinging instrumental romp that climaxes with tandem rhythmic accents.
2010 J. K. Ringold tr. A. Enquist Counterpoint 5 It's a sarabande,..a stately tempo and accent on the second beat of every bar.
III. In contexts not relating to sound.
9. Distinction; a distinguishing mark, character, or tone; distinctive force, sharpness, prominence, or intensity; (esp. with on) emphasis, stress.
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > existence > intrinsicality or inherence > [noun] > a characteristic
privilegec1225
distinctionc1374
propertyc1390
tachea1400
pointa1425
specialty?a1425
difference?c1425
conditionc1460
markc1522
touch1528
specialty1532
differentia1551
character?1569
formality1570
particularity1585
peculiar1589
accent1591
appropriation1600
characterism1603
peculiarity1606
resemblance1622
propera1626
speciality1625
specificationa1631
appropriament1633
characteristic1646
discrimination1646
diagnostic1651
characteristical1660
stroke1666
talent1670
physiognomya1680
oddity1713
distinctive1816
spécialité1836
trait1864
flavour1866
middle name1905
discriminant1920
discriminator1943
the world > action or operation > manner of action > vigour or energy > [noun] > vigour or intensity of action > force or intensity of operation or effect
strengthOE
forcec1320
vigour?a1445
forcibleness1563
accent1591
edgea1593
strongnessa1604
keenness?1606
forcefulness1825
power drive1927
kilowattage1935
wattage1964
welly1977
1591 M. Drayton Harmonie of Church sig. B4 The Vines with blossoms do abound, which yeeld a sweet accent.
1639 T. Fuller Hist. Holy Warre v. xxi. 264 Now these are the severall accents of honour in the Germane service.
1647 N. Ward Simple Cobler Aggawam 34 The accent of the blow shall fall there.
1655 W. Gurnall Christian in Armour: 1st Pt. 27 That which gave accent to Abrahams faith,..was that he was fully perswaded, that what God had promised, he was able to performe.
a1661 T. Fuller Worthies (1662) Lanc. 108 Marsh made amends for all these failings with his final constancy, being both burnt and scalded to death (having a barrel of pitch placed over his head, an accent of cruelty peculiar to him alone).
1673 J. Janeway Invisibles, Realities i. 3 That which put an accent upon his real worth was, that he did not discover the least affectation or self-conceit.
1714 Polit. State Great Brit. Nov. 422 To see it now take Place..puts an Accent on the Blessing, and exalts our Joy to Transport.
1742 H. Walpole Let. 4 May in Wks. (1798) IV. 462 Wit itself is monopolized by politics... Thus Sandys thinks he has spoken an epigram, when he crinkles up his nose, and lays a smart accent on ways and means.
1847 C. D. Mallary in Georgia Pulpit I. 204 Will he not lay a feeble and indistinct accent on those duties which he himself neglects, even if he do not exclude them from his system of instruction?
1863 A. Gilchrist Life W. Blake I. 41 The interior, with its galleries..and elaborately decorated apsidal dwarf-chancel, has an imposing effect and a strongly marked characteristic accent (of its day) already historical and interesting.
1892 Munsey's Mag. Jan. 383/2 Others..cite the vast circulation of the Petit Journal of Paris..as a precedent for the belief that a similar paper at one penny should reach in this American country of ours..a circulation of a round million and upwards, with an accent on the upwards.
1925 V. Woolf Common Reader 192 At once, therefore, the accent falls a little differently; the emphasis is upon something hitherto ignored.
1947 F. Meynell in E. Barker Char. Eng. xviii. 389 The design of the components—the type, paper, and binding—will show local accents. Since the difference between good and bad design..may be a question of millimetres in the thickness of a part of a letter..even these slight national accents are of great importance to the bibliophile.
1978 J. Wain Pardoner's Tale vii. 203 She's in a group that does children's theatre—it's mostly improvisatory, with the accent on getting the kids to join in.
2008 E. Sinn in H. F. Siu & A. S. Ku Hong Kong Mobile i. i. 14 For ships catering for free emigrants, the accent was on comfort, safety and good service... For ships sending coerced passengers,..the accent was on controlling them in order to prevent escape and mutiny.
10.
a. Distinctive visual emphasis; contrast of colour or light; a touch of colour or light which brings the features of a structure into relief or provides a contrast in a composition or colour scheme.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > painting and drawing > light and shade > [noun] > light > accent or highlight
highlight1658
accent1849
1849 J. Ruskin Seven Lamps Archit. iii. 79 The Greek workman cared for shadow only as a dark field wherefrom his light figure or design might be intelligibly detached: his attention was concentrated on the one aim at readableness, and clearness of accent.
1888 Contemp. Rev. May 712 A few stronger touches, and an accent of light on the neck.
1900 Westm. Gaz. 17 Mar. 3/2 A trained eye which discerned at a glance where the accents of a building lay.
1922 Amer. Photogr. Sept. 572 Without the aid of a well defined tint it would be impossible to place the accent of light on the sails of the nearest schooner, where the interest centers.
1957 Woman's Day (N.Y.) July 22/2 You may resort to spot-dyeing for a particular color accent.
2007 Vanity Fair (N.Y.) Nov. 138/1 Color scheme is sunset hues with amber, ivory, and burgundy accents.
b. A feature other than light or colour which emphasizes or sets off a decorative style or an outfit, esp. by contrast. Chiefly U.S.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > beautification > [adjective] > ornamented or decorated > ornamental or decorative > specific decorative style > highlight
accent1894
1894 M. G. Humphreys in Woman's Bk. II. xv. 143/1 The panels have only slight relief, and the carving is scarcely more than an accent.
1919 H. D. Eberlein et al. Pract. Bk. Interior Decoration ii. ii. 198 This strong, introduced note would be an Accent. Without such accent a keyed and related room (or a costume), though harmonious is apt to be monotonous and dead.
1926 Art Bull. 8 146 The plain plaster walls relieved by accents of heavy rustication, so favored by the Florentine cinquecento, are also found.
1935 Times 6 Aug. 13/7 Felt Hats with Suede Accents... They're good tempered when you travel, their packability being just one more virtue.
1962 Listener 18 Jan. 138/2 These new works sometimes convey nautical accents through the use of ship-shape and Bristol-fashioned wood, planed and crew-cut wood surfaces.
1974 State (Columbia, S. Carolina) 15 Feb. 6- a/2 A beautiful Mediterranean credenza cabinet with double speakers, a perfect accent to any room decor.
2001 Art Room Catal. Spring Preview 28/3 It is made from pure silk chiffon, which is then richly embroidered, edged in guipure lace and hand finished. A lovely accent to an outfit.
Compounds
C1. In sense 10, as accent colour, accent light, accent stripe, etc.
ΚΠ
1900 Boston Med. & Surg. Jrnl. 4 Oct. 343/1 The complementary colors to these background colors serve to call attention to particular objects, as, for example, fruits and flowers, and may be called accent colors.
1921 A. B. Clark Art Princ. in House, Furnit., & Village Building ii. viii. 97/2 The window hangings may have patterns which echo the whole scheme; that is, contain both the background and accent colors.
1954 Life 15 Nov. 77/2 (caption) Flexible twin arm accent light.
1956 Pop. Sci. Dec. 115 (caption) ‘Accent stripes’ have contrasting color inserts.
1963 Baseball Digest June 33/1 Kelly green is the Athletics' accent color.
1972 Times 15 Dec. 27/3 Lighting in general is indirect, with much use of spots, floods and accent lights.
1977 New Yorker 12 Sept. 87/2 It [sc. a purse] will fit in beautifully with its superb leather, accent stripe and stitching.
1988 M. Atwood Cat's Eye (1989) xxi. 112 It used to be sedate wood-rimmed glass counters, with gloves.., accent scarves in floral prints.
2002 Pop. Crafts Nov. 30/2 Place the shapes into a tray and sprinkle with one colour of the accent beads.
C2.
accent mark n.
ΚΠ
1729 tr. C. Lancelot et al. Treat. Greek Accents i. 31 Men have thought it more advantageous..to make no Accent marks at all..and to makes us many times take that Syllable for long, which is short.
1807 Eclectic Rev. Nov. 997 The purpose..for which the Greek accent marks were invented, as well as the manner in which they are used, assimilates them to our emphasis-marks.
1928 O. Jespersen Internat. Lang. ii. 75 A form like simplicità with its ending and accent-mark would..tempt many people to give c its Italian sound.
1980 New Grove Dict. Music XVIII. 678/2 Dynamics are noted below each staff..together with sʃz and similar accent marks.
2008 M. Lago et al. BBC talks of E. M. Forster 247 (note) EMF added an accent mark above the first syllable of ‘inside’.
accent shift n.
ΚΠ
1888 H. Sweet Hist. Eng. Sounds (new ed.) 77 In Sk many words ending in a cons. show accent-shift in inflection.
1935 D. L. Sayers Gaudy Night xviii. 382 How dared he pick up her word ‘sleep’ and use it four times in as many lines, and each time in a different foot, as though juggling with the accent-shift were child's play?
1974 G. A. J. Tops Origin Germanic Dental Preterit iv. 71 This necessarily implies that the loss of the ending -a predates the Germanic accent shift.
2005 Oceanic Linguistics 44 12 Proto-Rejang underwent two accent-shifts.
accent-shifting n.
ΚΠ
1885 Amer. Jrnl. Philol. 6 442 A parallel example of accent-shifting.
1926 H. W. Fowler Dict. Mod. Eng. Usage 386/2 Words in which accent-shifting is tentative only:—construe′ v. (doubtful), co′nstrue n.
2007 Times (Nexis) 6 Oct. 6 She claims the self-conscious face-changing, accent-shifting,..‘are what I've always thought acting was’.
accent sign n.
ΚΠ
1844 Phonotypic Jrnl. Dec. 71 There will be no difficulty in marking these three species of vowels by means of full and stopped vowel characters and the accent sign.
1908 Union Seminary Mag. (Union Theol. Seminary in Virginia) Apr. 276 There are in Hebrew about twenty-seven different accent marks;..but since a minute and exhaustive study of these is not required in our course, I provided only one accent sign.
2003 Notes 60 69 Simrock interpreted accent signs in Artaria's edition as diminuendos.
C3.
accent neume n. Early Music a sign in neumatic notation used to indicate a group of notes; cf. neume n. 2.
ΚΠ
1895 Downside Rev. Mar. 39 The person who thus noted the text was perfectly unacquainted with the theory of accent-neumes,..and yet he has adopted the very method of the early musicians.
1958 W. Apel Gregorian Chant 109 All the ‘basic’ neumes are nothing but combinations of the accent signs, and are therefore usually referred to as accent neumes.
1993 D. Hiley Western Plainchant 363 Accent-neumes indicate several notes with a single stroke of the pen.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2011; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
accentv.
/əkˈsɛnt/, /akˈsɛnt/, U.S. /ˈækˌsɛnt/, /ækˈsɛnt/ 1.
a. intransitive. To place the accent or stress in a word or musical phrase; to mark a rhythm or beat. Usually with adverb or adverbial phrase. In later use chiefly U.S.
ΚΠ
1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 415 I can nat accent aryght in the latyn tonge, for my frenche tonge letteth me: je ne puis pas accentuer a droyt en la langue latine, car ma langue francoyse mempesche.
1612 J. Brinsley Ludus Lit. xx. 232 In learning these Radices, call vpon them oft to marke carefully the accents of each word, with the spirits: for that will further them exceedingly to accent right.
1707 Glossographia Anglicana Nova Prosodia, that part of Grammer which teaches how to accent right, and to distinguish Syllables either long or short.
1824 New Monthly Mag. 12 154/2 We doubt whether we could say that we ever heard this air better sung altogether: she accented with a considerable degree of good emphasis, in the true Italian style.
1864 A. S. Moffat Cedar Brook Stories II. iv. 131 She was also a good reader, accenting well, and pronouncing her words distinctly.
1896 Music Aug. 427 My teacher tells me that to accent in practicing a scale is to make the touch hard, the playing monotonous, and that the accent is directly opposed to the smooth and even scale which is the ultimate end.
1914 F. Bolton Exercises for Women vi. 105 Take it ten or fifteen times, humming mentally a waltz for rhythm, accenting well and giving two measures for going backward, one to the return, and one to the pause before starting again.
1922 J. Eisenberg Weight & Relaxation Method for Pianoforte ix. 100 It is useless to know where to accent and then to lack the technical facility to make the important notes stand out clearly.
1933 L. H. Bailey How Plants get their Names vi. 136 Probably the Latin preference is to accent on the penultimate, but frequently the words are spoken as the persons pronounced their own names.
1946 A. Murray Arthur Murray's Dance Secrets 98 To accent in dancing, merely emphasize the same beat of the music that the orchestra does.
1998 S. Frazier & M. Frazier in A. Siewert et al. Worship Team Handbk. iv. xxv. 78/1 Once you've achieved consistency in the sound of your eighth notes, then try to accent on 2 and 4.
b. transitive. To pronounce, say, or distinguish audibly with accent or stress, to place the vocal, musical, or rhythmic stress on.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > linguistics > study of speech sound > speech sound > intonation, pitch, or stress > [verb (transitive)] > pronounce with accent
accent1589
accinate1652
accentuate?1719
1589 G. Puttenham Arte Eng. Poesie ii. xvii. 110 Gŏd graūnt thĭs peāce măy lōng ĕndūre Where the sharpe accent falles more tunably vpon [graunt] [peace] [long] [dure] then it would by conuersion, as to accent them thus: Gōd graŭnt-thīs peăce-māy lŏng-ēndūre.
1636 C. Butler Princ. Musik i. i. 26 Of the six blak Minims, the fowrth beginneth the Rise of the Hand, and is therefore more notably accented.
1662 J. Howell New Eng. Gram. 171 Ther is nothing that conduceth more to the right and round speking of Spanish, as to observe how the words are accented.
1711 J. Stevens Present & Anc. State of Portugal xi. 131 In the Verb, Amo, I Love, Amaram expresses all Three Tenses; the Preterperfect is Accented thus, Amáram, the Future thus, Amarám, but then the Preterimperfect has no Distinction left to express it.
1753 Chambers's Cycl. Suppl. App. at Accent When an upper part syncopates, the second is accented and treated as a Ninth.
1790 H. Blair Lect. Rhetoric (ed. 4) I. ix. 225 In Greek and Latin, no word is accented farther back than the third syllable from the end.
1795 W. Mason Ess. Eng. Church Music in Wks. (1811) III. 291 For the preservation of this Rhythm in Music it is necessary that at least one note in every bar should be accented.
1807 I. D'Israeli Curiosities of Lit. 1st Ser. (ed. 5) I. 465 [The Chinese] can so diversify their monosyllabic words by the different tones which they give them, that the same character differently accented, signifies sometimes ten or more different things.
1868 Pall Mall Gaz. 23 July 4 The probability is..in favour of these words having been accented in his [sc. John Milton's] day as they now are.
1914 K. W. Gehrkens Music Notation & Terminol. vi. 26 The appoggiatura is always accented, but the acciaccatura never is, the stress always falling on the melody tone.
1939 N. Monsarrat This is Schoolroom xvii. 385 The dance-band world..has given us a new pronunciation—‘bokay’ for bouquet, ‘rómance’ thus accented.
1991 Economist 21 Dec. 7/2 Those extra beats..are the ones usually accented by the drummer, in what is sometimes called the backbeat.
2006 J. C. Wells Eng. Intonation iii. 93 To accent the word never we accent the first syllable.
2. transitive. figurative. To give a distinctive force, sharpness, prominence, or intensity to; to make conspicuous; to emphasize, stress.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > importance > [verb (transitive)] > attach importance to > render outstanding
aggravate1549
accent1595
to lay weight upon1600
emphase1631
circumflect1643
to lay (also place, put) stress on (also upon)1653
to set home1656
forestall1657
circumflex1661
signalize1698
to lay stress, weight, emphasis on or upon1748
emphasize1793
accentuate1817
stress1845
to rub in1851
to draw out1855
underline1880
punctuate1883
peak1887
underscore1891
to point up1926
the mind > emotion > aspects of emotion > quality of affecting the emotions > affect with emotion [verb (transitive)] > give a tone or intensity to an emotion
accent1595
key1650
society > communication > manifestation > manifestness > manifest [verb (transitive)] > make conspicuous
mark1533
accent1877
signpost1884
1595 W. Covell Polimanteia sig. Tv Conceiued with teares, accented with sighes; and vttered by truethes naked oratresse.
1616 D. Tuvill Asylum Veneris 30 His words were now not accented with love, as beforetime they had beene.
1655 W. Gurnall Christian in Armour: 1st Pt. 69 The rememberance of his sin in hell thus accented will adde to his torment.
1725 R. Wodrow Corr. (1843) III. 207 I were an ungrateful wretch, if this royal favour did not quicken and accent my concern in them.
1840 M. E. Sawtell Mourner's Tribute 76 His voice accented with unmingled grief.
1876 M. E. Braddon Joshua Haggard's Daughter II. 10 ‘Of course I'm not eluding to ladies like you,’ said the farmer..accenting his speech by a slap on Priscilla's spare shoulder.
1877 R. J. King in Academy 3 Nov. 438/2 The great piers, of Doulting stone, are accented at the cardinal points by shafts of dark lias.
1903 Craftsman May 84 The union of grays and greens accented with notes of black.
1931 C. Beaton Diary 2 Jan. in Self Portrait with Friends (1979) ii. 20 She was wearing Wedgwood blue, which accented her white, freckled skin, her drooping aquamarine eyes and shining, pearly teeth.
1953 S. J. Perelman in New Yorker 21 Nov. 40/3 Her white evening gown, accented at the bodice with pompons, appeared at first glance to have been improvised from a candlewick bedspread.
1991 Artist's Mag. Jan. 71/3 Then, after allowing the wash to dry, I accented a few key figures with crisp brushwork.
2009 T. Adeleke Case against Afrocentrism Introd. 5 While race mattered to [W. E. B.] Du Bois,..his analysis took due cognizance of, and accented, the American dimension of the Negro identity.
3. transitive. literary. To pronounce, say, intone.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > voice or vocal sound > [verb (transitive)] > utter
leadOE
givec1175
tell?c1225
talkc1275
to set upa1325
to put outc1350
soundc1374
to give upc1386
pronouncea1393
cough1393
moutha1400
profera1400
forth withc1400
utterc1400
to put forth1535
display1580
vent1602
accent1603
respeak1604
vocalize1669
fetch1707
go1836
outen1951
1603 J. Davies Microcosmos 236 No sooner these sweete words accented were, But in our presence livelie did appeare A Ladie of a most maiesticke state.
1654 I. Walton Life of Wotton (new ed.) in H. Wotton Reliquiæ Wottonianæ (ed. 2) 70 And now congeal'd with grief, can scarce implore Strength to accent, Here my Albertus lies!
1656 W. Coles Art of Simpling 93 The warbling notes, which the charming birds accent forth from amongst the murmuring leaves.
1816 W. Scott Old Mortality ii, in Tales of my Landlord 1st Ser. III. 40 These solemn sounds, accented by a thousand voices, were prolonged amongst the waste hills.
1897 Mrs. C. A. Kingsbury tr. J. Claretie Crime of Boulevard xviii. 249 She accented the words with a sort of tender, passionate piety, and Jacques Dantin saw that her eyes were filled with tears.
1975 Black World Dec. 36 Her voice fluttered over The mortuary fan Her words accented Sweet like sopped syrup on biscuits Hot with butter ‘Deuteronomy second chapter Third verse’.
4. transitive. To mark with a written, printed, or keyed accent.
ΚΠ
1610 H. Broughton Reuelation Holy Apocalyps (new ed.) xi. 115 The Law Copies were some vowelled, and accented: the commune vnvowelled and vnaccented: because the tongue may by vse be read, reasonablie without them.
1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues Briefe Direct. 1/1 E, when it is thus accented, e,..is called é Masculine, and sounded out, as in the Latine word docére.
1693 tr. N. Knatchbull Annot. New Test. 246 But if it be accented with an Acute in the third from the end..then is the Imperative Aorist of the middle voice.
1725 T. Lewis Origines Hebrææ III. 169 Letters..suspended or turned upside down, full or defective, pointed above, or accented in an irregular Manner.
1848 E. A. Poe in Southern Lit. Messenger 14 585 Here many a is what I have explained to be a bastard trochee, and to be understood should be accented with inverted crescents.
1861 Amer. Agriculturist Jan. 26/1 An edition of the Bible, in which the proper names are divided and accented, so as to show the proper pronunciation.
1883 S. Newcomb Elem. Plane & Spherical Trigonom. (ed. 2) ii. ii. 132 The fact that the complements are understood is indicated by accenting the letters in the diagram.
1921 W. W. Lamb Inductive French Gram. xxxvi. 288 Do most of these accent the e or double the following consonant?
1989 C. Stern Gateway to Prayer 28 Accent each letter above the vowel.
2007 P. Chua & D. Ilicic Logo Savvy (2008) 144/1 Artistic impression is reflected in the Eos identity, illustrated with a featherlike mark accenting the letter O and hinting at flight and comfort, in addition to indicating the long O pronunciation.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2011; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.OE
v.1530