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Stress vs Knackered - What's the difference?

stress | knackered |

As a noun stress

is stress (emotional pressure).

As an adjective knackered is

(uk|irish|australia|new zealand|slang) tired or exhausted or knackered can be (uk|irish|south africa|colloquial) broken, inoperative.

As a verb knackered is

(knacker).

stress

English

Noun

  • (countable, physics) The internal distribution of force per unit area (pressure) within a body reacting to applied forces which causes strain or deformation and is typically symbolised by
  • (countable, physics) externally applied to a body which cause internal stress within the body.
  • (uncountable) Emotional pressure suffered by a human being or other animal.
  • Go easy on him, he's been under a lot of stress lately.
  • (uncountable, phonetics) The emphasis placed on a syllable of a word.
  • Some people put the stress on the first syllable of “controversy”; others put it on the second.
  • (uncountable) Emphasis placed on words in speaking.
  • (uncountable) Emphasis placed on a particular point in an argument or discussion (whether spoken or written).
  • (Spenser)
  • (Scotland, legal) distress; the act of distraining; also, the thing distrained.
  • Synonyms

    * (phonetics) accent, emphasis * (on words in speaking) emphasis * (on a point) emphasis

    Verb

  • To apply force to (a body or structure) causing strain.
  • To apply emotional pressure to (a person or animal).
  • (informal) To suffer stress; to worry or be agitated.
  • To emphasise (a syllable of a word).
  • “Emphasis” is stressed on the first syllable, but “emphatic” is stressed on the second.
  • To emphasise (words in speaking).
  • To emphasise (a point) in an argument or discussion.
  • I must stress that this information is given in strict confidence.

    Synonyms

    * (phonetics) emphasise/emphasize * (on words in speaking) emphasise/emphasize * (on a point) emphasise/emphasize, underline

    Derived terms

    * stressed * stress out

    References

    knackered

    English

    Etymology 1

    From the verb (knacker).

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • (UK, Irish, Australia, New Zealand, slang) tired or exhausted.
  • I can't go out tonight — I'm knackered .
  • * 2002 , Robert Edenborough, Effective Interviewing: A Handbook of Skills and Techniques , pages 97-98
  • I've got this job in a warehouse just now and it finishes quite early but I'm dead knackered at the end of the day so I don't know about going out and like studying every night.
  • * 2003 , Hugh Dauncey, Geoff Hare (editors), The Tour de France, 1903-2003: A Century of Sporting Structures, Meanings and Values , Frank Cass Publishers, London, 2005, page 225,
  • Then, it all just gets worse and worse, you don?t sleep so much, so you don?t recover as well from the day?s racing, so you go into your reserves, you get more knackered , so you sleep less... It?s simply a vicious circle.
  • * 2009 , Grace Maxwell, Falling & Laughing: The Restoration of Edwyn Collins , page 84,
  • So my joy at hearing his voice quickly turns to a paroxysm of anxiety as he manages by exhausted gesture and sound to let us know how knackered he feels, how desperate to get horizontal, almost from the first moment he lands in the chair.
    Usage notes
    * Rarely used in North America, where the usage is less well-known.
    Synonyms
    * cream crackered

    Verb

    (head)
  • (knacker)
  • Etymology 2

    From "ready for the (term, knacker's yard)" or "fit to be knackered", meaning "worn-out livestock, fit to be slaughtered and rendered".

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • (UK, Irish, South Africa, colloquial) Broken, inoperative.
  • * {{quote-book
  • , year=2003 , author=Simon Murphy , title=The Murders of Mutchrose Village , page=28 , passage=In the end though he had to admit that the car was knackered ... }}
  • * 2009 , John Newton, Vance Miller - Kitchen Gangster? , page 82
  • We take an old knackered machine out to China and say, 'Copy that, brand new,' and they do.
    Synonyms
    * broken, worn-out