Collocations: stress

A number of verbs collocate with stress in the sense of dealing with it or eliminating it. Examples are alleviate, combat, counteract, minimize, reduce and relieve, as in ‘Many people have found that gardeningalleviates stress and helps them relax’.

Various verbs can be used in the sense of causing stress, including create, induce, place stress on someone and put someone under stress, as in ‘It is important for non-smokers to understand the enormousstress that the new regulations place on smokers’.

In terms of feeling stress, one can be under stress, experience stress or suffer from stress, as in ‘She’sbeen under a lot of stress in recent weeks’.

Stress can also be used in the plural in the expression stresses and strains (meaning ‘problems and difficulties’)