Basic Details
Word: Stressed
Part of Speech: Adjective; verb (past tense of stress)
Meaning: Feeling worried and under pressure. As a verb it means gave special importance to something, or said a part of a word more strongly.
Synonyms: tense, anxious, worried, emphasised
Antonyms: relaxed, calm
How to Spell Stressed
Syllables: stressed
Tricky part: Stress already ends in ss, and adding ed does not change it, so stressed has two s's in the middle. The ed sounds like t, which tempts students to write strest.
Watch out for: strest, stresed, stressd
Memory tip: Stressed spelt backwards is desserts. Both words have a double s, and a bowl of dessert might help when you are stressed.
Idioms and Phrases
- stressed out: very worried and tired because of too much pressure Example: "Tanvi was stressed out the night before her science project was due."
Usage Examples
Example 1: The coach stressed the need to warm up before every match.
Example 2: Papa looks stressed whenever the electricity bill arrives late.
Example 3: In the word banana, the second syllable is stressed.
Fun Fact
In English, moving the stress can change a word's job: in REcord the stress makes a noun, and in reCORD it makes a verb.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Cookie
Find the extra letter in the word:
streassed
a) s
b) e
c) a
d) d
Show answer
c) a. Take the a out and you have stress plus ed; the a was never part of it.
Spell-o-Spell
Choose the meaning of the correctly spelt word:
1. tention 2. anxeity 3. exhausion 4. stressed
a) extreme tiredness
b) a state of strain
c) a feeling of nervous fear
d) worried and under pressure
Show answer
d) worried and under pressure. Anxiety ends in iety, tension ends in sion and exhaustion has a t before ion, which leaves stressed.
Mingle-Mangle
Unjumble the letters in the sentence and choose the word they make:
Before her board exams, Kavya felt so sdetsser that she could hardly sleep.
a) pressed
b) dressed
c) stressed
d) stresses
Show answer
c) stressed. Pressed needs a p and dressed a second d, and stresses would need a fourth s in place of the d.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. In 'The teacher stressed the main points twice', stressed means ____.
a) read out quietly
b) forgot about
c) rubbed off the board
d) pointed out as important
Show answer
d) pointed out as important
2. Which word means the opposite of stressed when it describes a person?
a) tense
b) tired
c) relaxed
d) worried
Show answer
c) relaxed
