accentuate
verb /əkˈsentʃueɪt/
/əkˈsentʃueɪt/
Verb Forms
| present simple I / you / we / they accentuate | /əkˈsentʃueɪt/ /əkˈsentʃueɪt/ |
| he / she / it accentuates | /əkˈsentʃueɪts/ /əkˈsentʃueɪts/ |
| past simple accentuated | /əkˈsentʃueɪtɪd/ /əkˈsentʃueɪtɪd/ |
| past participle accentuated | /əkˈsentʃueɪtɪd/ /əkˈsentʃueɪtɪd/ |
| -ing form accentuating | /əkˈsentʃueɪtɪŋ/ /əkˈsentʃueɪtɪŋ/ |
- accentuate something to emphasize something or make it easier to notice
- Her short hair accentuated her huge eyes.
- The fundamental patterns of inequality have remained and have been accentuated by the war.
- When talks did occur, they tended to accentuate differences between the two groups.
Word Originmid 18th cent.: from medieval Latin accentuat- ‘accented’, from the verb accentuare, from accentus ‘tone’(from ad- ‘to’ + cantus ‘song’), translating Greek prosōidia ‘a song sung to music, intonation’.