emphatic

American  

[em-fat-ik] / ɛmˈfæt ɪk /

adjective

1. uttered, or to be uttered, with emphasis; strongly expressive.

2. using emphasis in speech or action.

3. forceful; insistent.

   a big, emphatic man; I must be emphatic about this particular.

   Synonyms:

   definite, unequivocal, decided, pronounced, forcible, energetic, positive

   Antonyms:

   weak

4. very impressive or significant; strongly marked; striking.

   the emphatic beauty of sunset.

5. clearly or boldly outlined.

   It stands, like a great, stone dagger, emphatic against the sky.

6. Grammar. of or relating to a form used to add emphasis, especially, in English, stressed auxiliary do in affirmative statements, as in He did call you or I do like it.

7. Phonetics. having a secondary velar articulation, as certain dental consonants in Arabic.

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noun

1. an emphatic consonant.

emphatic British  

/ ɪmˈfætɪk /

adjective

1. expressed, spoken, or done with emphasis

2. forceful and positive; definite; direct

   an emphatic personality

3. sharp or clear in form, contour, or outline

4. important or significant; stressed

   the emphatic points in an argument

5. phonetics denoting certain dental consonants of Arabic that are pronounced with accompanying pharyngeal constriction

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noun

1. phonetics an emphatic consonant, as used in Arabic

Other Word Forms

• emphatically adverb
• emphaticalness noun
• unemphatic adjective
• unemphatically adverb

Etymology

Origin of emphatic

1700–10; < Greek emphatikós indicative, forceful, equivalent to *emphat ( ós ) ( em- em- ² + phatós, variant of phantós visible, equivalent to phan-, stem of phaínesthai to appear + -tos adj. suffix) + -ikos -ic

Example Sentences

An emphatic victory for Takaichi and her Liberal Democratic Party would cement her grip on power and embolden her to pursue her vision of revitalizing Japan’s economy and raising stagnant incomes with aggressive fiscal spending.

From The Wall Street Journal

And yes, despite your editor’s constant trimmings, you’ll still kick off emphatic sentences with “Yes” more than 50 times.

From The Wall Street Journal

Jack Draper says he is "winning by being here" as he made an emphatic return after a lengthy injury lay-off to help Great Britain take control of their Davis Cup qualifying tie against Norway.

From BBC

“We went from burning the flag to waving the flag,” says veteran ABC announcer Al Michaels, who delivered the live sportscast and the emphatic “Do you believe in miracles? Yes!”

From The Wall Street Journal

It was just a matter of time after that, Alcaraz sealing an emphatic win in two hours and 44 minutes.

From Barron's

Related Words

• assertive
• categorical
• confident
• definite
• definitive
• energetic
• explicit
• forceful
• impressive
• pronounced
• resounding
• sober
• sure
• telling
• unmistakable
• vigorous