pressure exerted on a physical object
the force of this per unit area
mental or emotional tension; strain
intensity of utterance given to a speech sound, syllable, or word so as to produce relative loudness; accent
a stress on the second syllable
such force or prominence given to a syllable in verse or a note in music, as part of the rhythm
lay stress on
to emphasize (a point)
stressful adj
stressfully adv
stressless adj
[Middle English, in the sense ‘constraint’, shortened from distress1]