Definitions for emphasis
ˈɛm fə sɪs; -ˌsizem·pha·sis

Princeton's WordNet(4.00 / 2 votes)Rate this definition:

1. emphasis, accentnoun

   special importance or significance

   "the red light gave the central figure increased emphasis"; "the room was decorated in shades of grey with distinctive red accents"

2. vehemence, emphasisnoun

   intensity or forcefulness of expression

   "the vehemence of his denial"; "his emphasis on civil rights"

3. emphasisnoun

   special and significant stress by means of position or repetition e.g.

4. stress, emphasis, accentnoun

   the relative prominence of a syllable or musical note (especially with regard to stress or pitch)

   "he put the stress on the wrong syllable"

GCIDE(3.50 / 2 votes)Rate this definition:

1. emphasisnoun

   a special attention given to, or extra importance attached to, something; as, a guided tour of Egypt with emphasis on the monuments along the Nile.

2. emphasisnoun

   something to which great importance is attached; as, the need for increased spending on education was the emphasis of his speech.

Wiktionary(5.00 / 1 vote)Rate this definition:

1. emphasisnoun

   Special weight or forcefulness given to something considered important.

   He paused for emphasis before saying who had won.

2. emphasisnoun

   Special attention or prominence given to something.

   Anglia TV's emphasis is on Norwich and district.

3. emphasisnoun

   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. emphasisnoun

   Related to bold.

Samuel Johnson's Dictionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. EMPHASISnoun

   A remarkable stress laid upon a word or sentence; particular force impressed by stile or pronunciation.

   Etymology: ἔμφασις.

   Oh, that brave Cæsar!
   —— Be choak’d with such another emphasis. William Shakespeare, Ant. and Cleop.

   Emphasis not so much regards the time as a certain grandeur, whereby some letter, syllable, word, or sentence is rendered more remarkable than the rest, by a more vigorous pronunciation, and a longer stay upon it. William Holder, Elem. of Speech.

   These questions have force and emphasis, if they be understood of the antediluvian earth. Thomas Burnet, Theory of the Earth.

Webster Dictionary(3.00 / 1 vote)Rate this definition:

1. Emphasisnoun

   a particular stress of utterance, or force of voice, given in reading and speaking to one or more words whose signification the speaker intends to impress specially upon his audience

2. Emphasisnoun

   a peculiar impressiveness of expression or weight of thought; vivid representation, enforcing assent; as, to dwell on a subject with great emphasis

3. Etymology: [L., fr. Gr. 'e`mfasis significance, force of expression, fr. 'emfai`nein to show in, indicate; 'en in + fai`nein to show. See In, and Phase.]

Freebase(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Emphasis

   In typography, emphasis is the exaggeration of words in a text with a font in a different style from the rest of the text—to emphasize them.

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary(5.00 / 1 vote)Rate this definition:

1. Emphasis

   em′fa-sis, n. stress of the voice on particular words or syllables to make the meaning clear: impressiveness of expression or weight of thought: intensity:—pl. Em′phases (-sēz).—v.t. Em′phasīse, to make emphatic.—adjs. Emphat′ic, -al, uttered with or requiring emphasis: forcible: impressive.—adv. Emphat′ically.—n. Emphat′icalness. [L.,—Gr.,—em (=en), in, into, and phasis—phaein, phainein, to show.]

The Roycroft Dictionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. emphasis

   To italicize a lie; to lay great stress on certain sounds that emanate from a larynx and that are intended to hypnotize a tympanum; to be impressive to the point of almost believing ourselves; the double chin of a declarative sentence; oratorical moth-balls.

Matched Categories

1. • Importance
   • Prosody
   • Rhetorical Device

British National Corpus

1. Spoken Corpus Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'emphasis' in Spoken Corpus Frequency: #1861

2. Written Corpus Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'emphasis' in Written Corpus Frequency: #3690

3. Nouns Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'emphasis' in Nouns Frequency: #857

Anagrams for emphasis »

1. misshape

How to pronounce emphasis?

1. Alex

   US English

   David

   US English

   Mark

   US English

   Daniel

   British

   Libby

   British

   Mia

   British

   Karen

   Australian

   Hayley

   Australian

   Natasha

   Australian

   Veena

   Indian

   Priya

   Indian

   Neerja

   Indian

   Zira

   US English

   Oliver

   British

   Wendy

   British

   Fred

   US English

   Tessa

   South African

How to say emphasis in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of emphasis in Chaldean Numerology is: 3

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of emphasis in Pythagorean Numerology is: 9

Examples of emphasis in a Sentence

1. Liu Yuejin:

   China's drug control agencies, now and in the years to come, will place greater emphasis on drug control cooperation between China and the United States, but I believe that to resolve this the more important issue is for the United States to strive to reduce and compress the great demand and drug consumption markets of opioids.

2. Ann Shumpert:

   I think not having the major contender here has allowed the other candidates to really shine, because the emphasis was on what they have to say, which is being undermined by the theatrics of the debates.

3. Jeffrey Abramson:

   Ken Paxton's an extreme conservative who plays political hardball, ken Paxton subscribes to a libertarian philosophy which puts an emphasis on individual rights and very, very little emphasis on there being any common good or public good at all.

4. James Brown:

   The economy is changing with an emphasis on technology skills across all sectors. The emphasis now is that not all STEM jobs require four-year degrees. When I was growing up, you had what were called ‘blue collar jobs,’ now you have technicians who need to be highly skilled in tech. You need people who can repair MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) machines, or work on electric cars, you now need technicians who need to have really hard STEM skills. That’s a skill set that will be growing over the next five years, it will be more in demand, and giving students the foundation for those kinds of careers starts in school.

5. John Magufuli:

   My government will put emphasis on fighting corruption, job creation and industrialisation.

Popularity rank by frequency of use