accent
[noun]
Synonyms:
- pronunciation, articulation, brogue, enunciation, inflection, intonation, modulation, tone
- emphasis, beat, cadence, force, pitch, rhythm, stress, timbre
[verb]
Synonyms:
- emphasize, accentuate, stress, underline, underscore

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Related Words: cadence, meter, rhythm, beat, pulsation, pulse, throb

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English Thesaurus: dialect, accent, slang, terminology, jargon, ...

[TahlilGaran] English Synonym Dictionary ▲

I. ac‧cent¹ /ˈæksənt $ ˈæksent/ noun [countable]
[Date: 1500-1600; Language: French; Origin: Latin accentus, from ad- 'to' + cantus 'song']

1. the way someone pronounces the words of a language, showing which country or which part of a country they come from ⇒ dialect:
He had a strong Irish accent

2. the accent is on something if the accent is on a particular quality, feeling etc, special importance is given to it:
accommodation with the accent on comfort

3. the part of a word that you should emphasize when you say it Synonym : stress
accent on
In the word ‘dinner’ the accent is on the first syllable.

4. a written mark used above or below particular letters in some languages to show how to pronounce that letter

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

II. ac‧cent² /əkˈsent $ ˈæksent/ verb [transitive]

1. to make something more noticeable so that people will pay attention to it Synonym : highlight:
Use make-up to accent your cheekbones and eyes.

2. technical to emphasize a part of a word in speech

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

accent
noun
ADJ. broad, marked, pronounced, strong, thick She had a pronounced Scottish accent.
slight | country, foreign, local, regional | plummy, posh, public school | cockney | American, middle-class, northern, etc.
QUANT. hint, trace Her French was excellent, without a trace of an accent.
VERB + ACCENT have, speak in/with | acquire | affect, assume, imitate, put on She put on a posh accent when she answered the phone.
cultivate | lose He lost his northern accent after moving south.
PREP. in an ~ She spoke in a broad Midlands accent.
with/without an ~ a tall man with an American accent

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

accent

have an accent
The man had a Spanish accent.
speak with an accent
She spoke with an accent that I couldn’t understand.
pick up an accent
During his stay in England, he had picked up an English accent.
lose your accent (=no longer speak with an accent)
After five years in Europe, Ricky had lost his American accent.
put on an accent (=deliberately speak with a different accent from your usual one)
When mum’s on the phone, she puts on a funny accent.
a strong/broad/thick/pronounced accent (=very noticeable)
She spoke with a strong Scottish accent.
a broad Australian accent
a slight/faint accent
He has a very slight accent.
a French/American etc accent
I noticed that he had a Spanish accent.
a New York/London etc accent
The woman had a Chicago accent.
a foreign accent
I got a call from a man with a foreign accent.
a southern/northern accent
He spoke with a lovely soft southern accent.
a regional accent (=from a particular area of a country)
If you have a regional accent, don’t try to hide it.
an upper-class/middle-class/working-class accent
Sebastian spoke with an upper-class accent.
a posh/plummy accent British English informal (=an upper-class accent)
a tall man with a posh accent
a hint/trace of an accent
I could detect the hint of a German accent in her voice.

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

dialect a form of a language that is spoken in one area of a country, with different words, grammar, or pronunciation from other areas:
Cantonese is only one of many Chinese dialects.
the local dialect
accent the way that someone pronounces words, because of where they were born or live, or their social class:
Karen has a strong New Jersey accent.
an upper class accent
slang very informal spoken language, used especially by people who belong to a particular group, for example young people or criminals:
Teenage slang changes all the time.
‘Dosh’ is slang for ‘money’.
terminology formal the technical words or expressions that are used in a particular subject:
musical terminology
Patients are often unfamiliar with medical terminology.
jargon especially disapproving words and phrases used in a particular profession or subject and which are difficult for other people to understand:
The instructions were written in complicated technical jargon.
‘Outsourcing’ is business jargon for sending work to people outside a company to do.
The letter was full of legal jargon.
metaphor a way of describing something by referring to it as something different and suggesting that it has similar qualities to that thing:
The beehive is a metaphor for human society.
simile an expression that describes something by comparing it with something else, using the words as or like, for example ‘as white as snow’:
The poet uses the simile ‘soft like clay’.
irony the use of words that are the opposite of what you really mean, often in order to be amusing:
‘I’m so happy to hear that,’ he said, with more than a trace of irony in his voice.
bathos a sudden change from a subject that is beautiful, moral, or serious to something that is ordinary, silly, or not important:
The play is too sentimental and full of bathos.
hyperbole a way of describing something by saying that it is much bigger, smaller, worse etc than it actually is – used especially to excite people’s feelings:
In his speeches, he used a lot of hyperbole.
journalistic hyperbole
alliteration the use of several words together that all begin with the same sound, in order to make a special effect, especially in poetry:
the alliteration of the ‘s’ sound in ‘sweet birds sang softly’
imagery the use of words to describe ideas or actions in a way that makes the reader connect the ideas with pictures in their mind:
the use of water imagery in Fitzgerald’s novel ‘The Great Gatsby’
She uses the imagery of a bird’s song to represent eternal hope.
rhetorical question a question that you ask as a way of making a statement, without expecting an answer:
When he said ‘how can these attitudes still exist in a civilized society?’, he was asking a rhetorical question.

[TahlilGaran] English Thesaurus ▲