pressure

See also pressuré

English

Etymology

From Old French, from Latin pressūra.

Pronunciation

• enPR: prĕshʹ-ə(r), IPA: /ˈprɛʃə(ɹ)/, X-SAMPA: /"prES@(r\)/
  • (UK) IPA: [ˈpɹɛʃ.ə(ɹ)], X-SAMPA: ["pr\ES.@(r\)]
  • (US) IPA: [ˈpɹɛʃ.ɚ], X-SAMPA: ["pr\ES.@`]

  • Audio (US)

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛʃə(ɹ)
• Hyphenation: pres‧sure

Noun

pressure (countable and uncountable; plural pressures)

1. A pressing; a force applied to a surface.

   Apply pressure to the wound to stop the bleeding.

2. A contrasting force or impulse of any kind

   the pressure of poverty; the pressure of taxes; the pressure of motives on the mind; the pressure of civilization.

   • (Can we date this quote?) Macaulay

     Where the pressure of danger was not felt.

3. Distress.

   She has felt pressure lately because her boss expects her to get the job done by the first.

   • 1649, Eikon Basilike

     My people's pressures are grievous.

   • (Can we date this quote?) Atterbury

     In the midst of his great troubles and pressures.

4. Urgency

   the pressure of business

5. (obsolete) Impression; stamp; character impressed.
   • (Can we date this quote?) Shakespeare

     All saws of books, all forms, all pressures past.

6. (physics) The amount of force that is applied over a given area divided by the size of this area.

Synonyms

• (distress): affliction, grievance
• (urgency): press

Derived terms

Related terms

blood pressure negative pressure intraocular pressure peer pressure pressurize, pressurise pressure altimeter pressure altitude pressure angle pressure area pressure atrophy pressure bag pressure bandage pressure bar pressure block pressure cabin pressure cable pressure casting pressure cell pressure centre, pressure center pressure chamber pressure coefficient pressure contour pressure cooker pressure decline pressure deflection pressure depth pressure distillate pressure distribution pressure effect pressure element

pressure epiphysis pressure fan pressure field pressure flaking pressure flip pressure force pressure gauge pressure gradient pressure group pressure head pressure hull pressure hydrophone pressure ice pressure interface pressure ionization pressure jump pressure line pressure maintenance pressure mark pressure melting pressure microphone pressure mine pressure naphtha pressure of speech and pressured speech pressure pad pressure paralysis pressure pattern pressure penitente pressure pickup pressure pillow

pressure pipe pressure point pressure radius pressure rating pressure regulator pressure ridge pressure ring pressure roll pressure seal pressure sense pressure sensibility pressure-sensitive pressure solution pressure sore pressure suit pressure survey pressure tank pressure tap pressure tendency pressure tube pressure tunnel pressure ulcer pressure vector pressure vessel pressure viscosity pressure washer pressure wave pressure welding pressure zone under pressure

Translations

physics: amount of force divided by area

• Arabic: ضغط (ar) (DaghT) m
• Armenian: ճնշում (hy) (č̣nšum) 
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 壓力 (cmn), 压力 (cmn) (yālì)

• Czech: tlak (cs) m
• Dutch: druk (nl) m
• Esperanto: premo (eo)
• Finnish: paine (fi)
• French: pression (fr) f
• German: Druck (de) m
• Greek: πίεση (el) f (píesi)
• Hungarian: nyomás (hu), levegőnyomás (hu)
• Indonesian: tekanan (id)
• Italian: pressione (it) f
• Japanese: 圧力 (ja) (あつりょく, atsuryoku)

• Korean: 압력 (ko) (amnyeok) (壓力 (ko))
• Latvian: spiediens (lv) m
• Macedonian: притисок (mk) (prítisok) m
• Malay: tekanan (ms)
• Maori: pēhanga (mi)
• Polish: ciśnienie (pl) n
• Portuguese: pressão (pt) f
• Romanian: presiune (ro) f
• Russian: давление (ru) (davlénije) n 
• Slovene: pritisk (sl) f
• Spanish: presión (es) f
• Swedish: tryck (sv) n
• Telugu: పీడనం (peeDanam), ఒత్తిడి (ottiDi)
• Turkish: basınç (tr)
• Welsh: gwasgedd (cy) m

a pressing; force applied to a surface

• Latin: pressūra (la) f, pressiō (la) f
• Polish: nacisk (pl) m

• Russian: давление (ru) (davlénije) n 

mental strain

• Armenian: ճնշում (hy) (č̣nšum) 
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 壓力 (cmn), 压力 (cmn) (yālì)

• Czech: tlak (cs) m
• Finnish: paine (fi), stressi (fi)
• German: Druck (de) m
• Greek: πίεση (el) f (píesi)

• Italian: pressione (it) f
• Macedonian: притисок (mk) (prítisok) m, пресија (mk) (présija) f
• Polish: nacisk (pl) m
• Russian: давление (ru) (davlénije) n 
• Scottish Gaelic: èiginn (gd) f
• Spanish: presión (es) f
• Telugu: ఒత్తిడి (ottiDi)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

• Dutch: druk (nl)
• French: pression (fr) f
• Indonesian: tekanan (id)
• Interlingua: pression (ia)

• Japanese: 気圧 (1), 重圧 (2)
• Latvian: spiediens (lv) m
• Portuguese: pressão (pt) f
• Romanian: presiune (ro) f
• Russian: давление (ru) n (davlenije)
• Swedish: tryck (sv)

See also

• (units of pressure): pascal (Pa); bar, barye (Ba); pounds per square inch (psi, lbf/in², lb/in²), torr, mmHg, atmosphere (atm)

Verb

pressure (third-person singular simple present pressures, present participle pressuring, simple past and past participle pressured)

1. (transitive) To encourage or heavily exert force or influence.

   Do not let anyone pressure you into buying something you do not want.

Anagrams

• perusers

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French

Pronunciation

• Homophones: pressurent, pressures

Verb

pressure

1. first-person singular present indicative of pressurer
2. third-person singular present indicative of pressurer
3. first-person singular present subjunctive of pressurer
4. third-person singular present subjunctive of pressurer
5. second-person singular imperative of pressurer

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Latin

Participle

pressūre

1. vocative masculine singular of pressūrus

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Old French

Etymology

Borrowing from Latin pressūra.

Noun

pressure f (oblique plural pressures, nominative singular pressure, nominative plural pressures)

1. pressure (action or result of pressing)

Descendants

• English: pressure (borrowed)