What does accentuate mean?
Word: Accentuate
Part of Speech: Verb
Meaning: Accentuate means to make a feature or quality easier to notice.
Synonyms: highlight, stress
How do you spell accentuate?
Syllables: ac - cen - tu - ate
Tricky part: Pupils hear a 'choo' sound in the middle and write ch, or they skip the u altogether and end up with accentate.
Watch out for: accentate, accentchuate
Memory tip: The 'choo' sound is written tu here, exactly as it is in punctuate.
Accentuate in a sentence
Example 1: A simple white background will accentuate the colours in your poster.
Example 2: Her short new haircut accentuates her big brown eyes.
Example 3: Soft lighting accentuates the carvings on the old wooden door.
Fun Fact
A hit American song from 1944, written by Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer, famously tells listeners to accentuate the positive.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Cookie
Fill in the missing letters to complete the word:
a_ce_tuate
a) s, n
b) x, n
c) c, m
d) c, n
Show answer
d) c, n. The word opens just as accept does, and you can hear an n, not an m, ahead of the t.
Word Connection
Choose the antonym of the word accentuate as used in the sentence:
In her speech, the captain chose to accentuate the team's strengths.
a) downplay
b) showcase
c) spotlight
d) underline
Show answer
a) downplay. To downplay something is to make it seem less important; the other three all draw attention to it.
Mingle-Mangle
The sentence contains a jumbled word. Choose the word it hides:
The stage lights will uctnaetcea the sequins on the dancers' costumes.
a) accumulate
b) accentuate
c) accompany
d) accelerate
Show answer
b) accentuate. With no l, m or p among the letters, only accentuate is left.
Spell-o-Spell
Only one word in the list is spelt correctly. Choose its meaning:
1. abreviate 2. accentuate 3. apreciate 4. articulete
a) to say words clearly and distinctly
b) to make a word or phrase shorter
c) to make one detail stand out more
d) to value something highly
Show answer
c) to make one detail stand out more. Articulate, abbreviate and appreciate have each picked up a slip in the list, so accentuate is the correct one.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. A photographer who wants to accentuate the stripes on a tiger in a photo would most likely ____.
a) shrink the picture to a small size
b) print the picture in pale grey
c) raise the contrast of the photo
d) blur the whole picture a little
Show answer
c) raise the contrast of the photo
2. Which of these shows something being accentuated?
a) The notice was printed on ordinary white paper.
b) The notice was folded in half and left inside a drawer.
c) Thick red lettering makes the key date jump out from the notice.
d) The key date was left off the notice by mistake.
Show answer
c) Thick red lettering makes the key date jump out from the notice.
