stressed

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
stress/stres/

▶noun

• 1 pressure or tension exerted on a material object.

  ■ Physics the magnitude of this measured in units of force per unit area.

• 2 a state of mental, emotional, or other strain.

• 3 particular emphasis.

  ■ emphasis given to a syllable or word in speech.

▶verb

• 1 emphasize.

  ■ give emphasis to (a syllable or word) when pronouncing it.

• 2 subject to stress.

– derivatives
stressless adjective,
stressor noun.

– origin ME (denoting pressure exerted on a person for the purpose of compulsion): shortening of distress, or partly from OFr. estresse ‘narrowness, oppression’, based on L. strictus (see strict).