emphasis

emphasis, stress, accent, accentuation denote exerted force by which one thing stands out conspicuously among other things; they also often designate the effect produced or the means used in gaining this effect.

Emphasis implies effort to bring out what is significant or important

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he puts the emphasis on discipline in his teaching

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an effective orator knows how to be sparing in his use of emphasis

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Sometimes it also suggests vigor or intensity of feeling

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anyone, however ignorant, can feel the sustained dignity of the sculptor's work, which is asserted with all the emphasis he could put into it— Henry Adams

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Stress, though often used interchangeably with emphasis, is distinguishable from it both in some of its implications and in its association with particular arts, where it has acquired specific meanings. It rarely loses entirely its original implication of weight that causes pressure or strain, though this is often merely suggested

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"I wouldn't lay too much stress on what you have been telling me," I observed quietly— Conrad

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At times stress strongly implies urgency or insistency

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Jane secretly approved his discernment. But all she said was, with her cool lack of stress, "It's not so bad"— Rose Macaulay

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In phonetics and prosody stress is the general term referring to the prominence given to certain syllables by force of utterance. It may also be used of the natural emphasis on certain words in a sentence. It may even suggest degree of emphasis

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there were volumes of innuendo in the way the "eventually" was spaced, and each syllable given its due stress— Wharton

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Accent implies contrast for the sake of effect, very frequently an aesthetic effect. Accent carries no connotation of weight, but it strongly suggests relief in both senses, that of relieving monotony and that of bringing out sharply or into relief

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the room was quiet and neutral in coloring, but it was given accent by bowls of bright flowers

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sun and sea, the heady fragrance of the plane trees, the tropical accent of palms— Cassidy

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In prosody accent is the form of stress characteristic of English verse, akin to the beat in music and involving force in utterance. In English phonetics accent and stress are commonly used interchangeably. Since force of utterance (stress) is the principal means by which a syllable, a word, or a group of words is accented or brought into sharp contrast with the others, one may speak of syllabic accent or stress, or word accent or stress.

Accentuation, though close to accent (except in technical senses), often goes beyond it in its emphasis on increased conspicuousness; it also often suggests disagreeableness in the contrast

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the essential defect of their polity . . . its excessive accentuation of the corporate aspect of life— Dickinson

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