distinctive manner of oral expression
"he couldn't suppress his contemptuous accent"
"she had a very clear speech pattern"
a diacritical mark used to indicate stress or placed above a vowel to indicate a special pronunciation
"In the word café, the accent over the 'e' tells us that it should be pronounced differently than in English."
A higher-pitched or stronger articulation of a particular syllable of a word or phrase in order to distinguish it from the others or to emphasize it.
"She placed her accent on the first syllable to clearly differentiate the homophone from its look-alike."
In plain English: An accent is the special way someone pronounces their words because of where they are from.
"She has a charming British accent that makes her English sound very clear and pleasant to listen to."
Usage: Use "accent" as a noun when referring to stress placed on specific syllables within words, such as distinguishing between 'reCORD' and re'Cord'. Avoid confusing this term with regional dialects or foreign language influences unless the context specifically involves pronunciation differences across speakers.
put stress on; utter with an accent
"In Farsi, you accent the last syllable of each word"
To express the accent of vocally; to utter with accent.
"The actor learned to accent every syllable in his speech so that his foreign origins were unmistakable."
In plain English: To accent something means to make it stand out more by adding emphasis or highlighting its most important parts.
"She will accent her words with humor to keep the audience engaged."
The word "accent" comes from the Latin verb accinō, meaning "to sing to or along with." It entered English through Middle English and Old French, having originally been borrowed from Latin before being lost and reintroduced later.