a way of pronouncing the words of a language that shows which country, area or social class a person comes from; how well somebody pronounces a particular language 口音；腔调；土音 a northern/Dublin/Scottish accent 北方/都柏林/苏格兰口音 a strong/broad accent (= one that is easy to notice) 浓重的口音 - with an accent
She spoke English with an accent. 她说英语带有口音。 The Americans had learned Korean and spoke with a good accent. 美国人学过韩语，说话带着很好的口音。
Culture Received PronunciationReceived PronunciationReceived Pronunciation, often called RP, is the accent that is widely accepted as the standard accent in British English, although only a tiny percentage of British people speak with an RP accent. Pronunciations given in most dictionaries are RP, or an adapted form of it.RP is a social accent not linked to any particular region of Britain, though it developed originally from the form of Middle English spoken around London. At that time London was the economic centre of England and the place where people were trained for professions such as the law. From the 15th century it became a centre for publishing. RP was the accent of upper-class people, and of the most highly educated people. The connection between RP and education was important in establishing the accent.People became increasingly conscious of accent and by the late 19th century it was considered necessary to adopt RP and lose any regional accent in order to have a successful career, especially in the army or government. RP was spread among children of the upper and upper middle classes through the public school system. Others took elocution lessons in order to learn to speak ‘properly’. Later, RP was taught in state schools. The public school accent and the Oxford accent, the accent adopted by some members of Oxford University, which many former public school pupils attended, are now considered by many to be rather artificial.The RP spoken by members of the upper class, including older members of the royal family, is called advanced RP or marked RP. Many people think that, like the Oxford accent, it doesn't sound natural. It may be described as ‘ clipped ’ if it is spoken with a tight mouth, or ‘ plummy ’ if it sounds as though the speaker had a plum in his or her mouth. Marked RP has particular vowel sounds, for example the ‘a’ in sat sounds more like the ‘e’ in set, the short ‘o’ in cost sounds like the long ‘o’ in for, and really sounds more like rarely.The status of RP became stronger in the 1920s after the BBC began radio broadcasts. For a long time announcers spoke with RP accents, and the accent became known as the BBC accent. Standard English, the form of English grammar considered correct, is, when spoken with an RP accent, sometimes called BBC English, Oxford English, or the Queen's/King's English.Today the BBC uses many announcers with regional accents. As a result there is now a much greater acceptance of non-RP accents. Many people now speak a modified form of RP with some regional characteristics.Extra ExamplesTopics Languageb2He lost his accent after moving to the capital. 他搬到首都后说话就不再带有口音了。 He spoke with a cut-glass English accent. 他说起话来拿腔捏调的，有英国口音。 Her French was excellent, without a trace of an accent. 她的法语很棒，不带一丝口音。 She had a pronounced Scottish accent. 她的苏格兰口音很明显。 She put on a Southern accent when she answered the phone. 她接电话时装出一口南方口音。 She spoke in a broad Midlands accent. 她说话带有很重的英格兰中部地区口音。 Where are you from? I can't place your accent. 你是哪里人？我听不出你是哪儿的口音。 a tall man with a Canadian accent 带一口加拿大口音的高个男子 It was a fine performance from Diaz, despite her poor Irish accent. 尽管迪亚兹的爱尔兰口音很差，但她表现得很好。
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- broad
- heavy
- marked
- …
- hint
- trace
- have
- speak in
- speak with
- …
- in an accent
- with an accent
- without an accent
- …
the emphasis that you should give to part of a word when saying it 重音 a mark on a letter to show that it should be pronounced in a particular way 读音符号（标在字母上） - [singular]
a special importance that is given to something 着重点；强调
Word Originlate Middle English (in the sense ‘intonation’): from Latin accentus ‘tone, signal, or intensity’ (from ad- ‘to’ + cantus ‘song’), translating Greek prosōidia ‘a song sung to music, intonation’.