emphasis
noun/ˈɛmfəsɪs/ · [ˈɛɱfəsɪs]
Etymology From Latin emphasis, from Ancient Greek ἔμφασις (émphasis, “significance”), from ἐμφαίνω (emphaínō, “to present; to indicate”), from ἐν- (en-, “in”) + φαίνω (phaínō, “to show”).
1
Special weight or forcefulness given to something considered important.
- He paused for emphasis before saying who had won.
2
Special attention or prominence given to something.
- Anglia TV's emphasis is on Norwich and district.
- Put emphasis on the advantages rather than the drawbacks.
1 more example
- The second level of reading we will call Inspectional Reading. It is characterized by its special emphasis on time.1972, Mortimer J. Adler, Charles Van Doren, How to Read a Book, Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, →LCCN, page 18:
3
Prominence given to a syllable or words, by raising the voice or printing in italic or underlined type.
- He used a yellow highlighter to indicate where to give emphasis in his speech.
4
Human sciences, Linguistics, Phonology, Sciences The phonetic or phonological feature that distinguishes emphatic consonants from other consonants.
5
Media, Publishing, Typography The use of boldface, italics, or other such formatting to highlight text.
- Derived terms
- deemphasis, de-emphasis, hyperemphasis, misemphasis, my emphasis, overemphasis, preemphasis, reemphasis, superemphasis, underemphasis
- Related terms
- de-emphasisation, de-emphasization, emphasisation, emphasise, emphasiser, emphasising, emphasization, emphasize, emphasizer, emphasizing, emphatic, emphatical, emphatically, emphaticalness, emphaticness