Definition of "acute accent" [acute accent]

• A mark (´) indicating: (noun)
• That a vowel is close or tense, as é in French été. (noun)
• That a vowel or syllable has a high or rising pitch, as in Chinese or Ancient Greek. (noun)
• That a vowel is long, as in Czech dobrá. (noun)
• That the syllable in which the vowel appears is stressed, as in Spanish fácil. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Serge Ivanovich acute accent over the a, throughout the text"
• "Zhidovka acute accent over the o, throughout the text nebulae ae written as a ligature"
• "Vassil Stefanovich Zagrubsky acute accent over the u, throughout the text manoeuvres oe written as a ligature"