In continuum mechanics, stress is a physical quantity that expresses the internal forces that neighbouring particles of a continuous material exert on each other, while strain is the measure of the deformation of the material.

What is meant by the term compressive stress?

: the stress that results from the shortening in one dimension of an elastic body due to oppositely directed collinear forces tending to crush it.

What is meant by compressive and tensile stress?

Tensile stress is the normal force per area (σ = F/A) that causes an object to increase in length. Compressive stress is the normal force per area (σ = F/A) that causes an object to decrease in length.