* Many English words have two accents, the primary and the secondary; the primary being uttered with a greater stress of voice than the secondary; as in as***prime]pira'b6tion, where the chief stress is on the third syllable, and a slighter stress on the first. Some words, as an***prime]tiap***prime]o-plec'b6tic, in- com***prime]pre-hen***prime]si-bil'b6i-ty, have two secondary accents. See Guide to Pron., t=t= 30-46.

* In the ancient Greek the acute accent (***prime]) meant a raised tone or pitch, the grave (`), the level tone or simply the negation of accent, the circumflex ( ~ or ^) a tone raised and then depressed. In works on elocution, the first is often used to denote the rising inflection of the voice; the second, the falling inflection; and the third (^), the compound or waving inflection. In dictionaries, spelling books, and the like, the acute accent is used to designate the syllable which receives the chief stress of voice.

The tender accent of a woman's cry.
Prior.