I put "it depends" but it isn't really true. The truth is that after five minutes of trying I can't decide which probably means that it's one of those unusual words where neither syllable carries a stress ( or both have equal stress).
"No man but a blockhead ever wrote except for money." Samuel Johnson.
Initial stress only, though I have free variation between CON- and CONG-. I've never heard con-CRETE as a noun or adjective, even as an American pronunciation, though it is the (little-used) verb.
Variable stress usually happens in phrases to avoid clash of neighbouring stresses: so if you normally said con-CRETE you might say CON-crete EV-idence. Test it with a following noun that doesn't have a clashing initial syllable: do you say con-CRETE pro-PO-sal?
Difficult, yes. But try stressing the final syllable - as in "discrete" and you will probably agree that the stress falls on the first. Or it does in the south of England, anyway!
Richard English
Posts: 8038 | Location: Partridge Green, West Sussex, UK
