stressful
/ˈstɹɛsfəl/adjective
stressful is spelled S-T-R-E-S-S-F-U-L: 9 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 7.6 times per million words in written English, the 8,542nd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, stressful means “Irritating; causing stress” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in stressful?
| Letters | 9: S-T-R-E-S-S-F-U-L |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 7.6 times per million words; the 8,542nd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is stressful?
Stressful appears 7.6 times per million words in written English, the 8,542nd most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce stressful?
- /ˈstɹɛsfəl/
Stressful has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-stressful.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of stressful
- more stressful comparative
- most stressful superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does stressful mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Irritating; causing stress.
- 2
Mentally taxing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Stressful in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense irritating; causing stress:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | stressant |
| German | stressig |
| Portuguese | estressante, stressante |
| Spanish | estresoso, estresante |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does stressful come from?
From stress + -ful.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).