emphatic
Americanadjective
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uttered, or to be uttered, with emphasis; strongly expressive.
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using emphasis in speech or action.
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forceful; insistent.
a big, emphatic man; I must be emphatic about this particular.
- Synonyms:
- definite, unequivocal, decided, pronounced, forcible, energetic, positive
- Antonyms:
- weak
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very impressive or significant; strongly marked; striking.
the emphatic beauty of sunset.
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clearly or boldly outlined.
It stands, like a great, stone dagger, emphatic against the sky.
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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.
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Phonetics. having a secondary velar articulation, as certain dental consonants in Arabic.
noun
adjective
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expressed, spoken, or done with emphasis
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forceful and positive; definite; direct
an emphatic personality
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sharp or clear in form, contour, or outline
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important or significant; stressed
the emphatic points in an argument
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phonetics denoting certain dental consonants of Arabic that are pronounced with accompanying pharyngeal constriction
noun
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
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Therefore a chunky tenth of a fund in gold is quite an emphatic call, even if many funds have been raising their gold holdings in the last couple of years.
From MarketWatch
In contrast Forest will be bouncing after such an emphatic win that moved them three points clear of relegation.
From BBC
"I said earlier that I feel like I'm playing Fifa. You can score three goals like that in 20 minutes?" the bewildered US international said after their emphatic 5-2 win over Spurs.
From BBC
Only days ago, during the semifinal against England, it was Samson who took the award, for an identical score, and at the time he was emphatic that Bumrah should have received the honour.
From BBC
Asked whether prices could rise for passengers over the summer, his answer was emphatic: "Very much so."
From BBC
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
