stressed

Use the adjective stressed to describe emotional strain, like the stressed feeling you have before taking a test you know will be hard, or the overuse of your body, like a stressed tendon in your leg that hurts when you run.

You probably know the adjective stressed as it is used to describe feelings of worry, pressure and anxiety, like feeling stressed out by all the work you have to do. But stressed isn't always so negative — as a verb, it means "emphasized" or "made important," like a former coach who stressed that teamwork and having fun were the true goals of playing sports.