emphatically
Britishadverb
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with emphasis or force
-
definitely or unquestionably
Explanation
When you say something emphatically, you say it with great emphasis and force, like when you emphatically denied that you took the last cookie. Emphatically, pronounced "em-FAT-ick-lee," shares the same origin as emphasize, which means "to stress or put particular importance on something." When you say or do something emphatically, you really mean it. For example, if you emphatically say "no" when someone asks you on a date, that person isn't likely to ask you — or even look in your direction — again.
Vocabulary lists containing emphatically
A Christmas Carol
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The Giver
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Wonder
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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.
Emphatically not, to judge by “American Happiness and Discontents: The Unruly Torrent, 2008-2020,” his latest anthology.
From Washington Post • Sep. 23, 2021
Emphatically, it changed my life and opened doors to a lifelong career in education and community engagement.
From Seattle Times • Sep. 21, 2021
Emphatically stopping a stretch of three straight close games, the Americans advanced to the semifinals by sprinting past Manu Ginobili and Argentina, 105-78.
From Washington Times • Aug. 18, 2016
Emphatically: The student protesters of the ’60s did not grow up to become the yuppies of the ’80s.
From Slate • May 1, 2016
Emphatically may it be said of the Poet, as Shakespeare hath said of man, 'that he looks before and after.'
From Prefaces and Prologues to Famous Books with Introductions, Notes and Illustrations by Eliot, Charles William
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.
