emphasis

[em-fuh-sis]

noun

plural

emphases 

1. special stress laid upon, or importance attached to, anything.

   The president's statement gave emphasis to the budgetary crisis.

2. something that is given great stress or importance.

   Morality was the emphasis of his speech.

3. Rhetoric.

   1. special and significant stress of voice laid on particular words or syllables.

   2. stress laid on particular words, by means of position, repetition, or other indication.

4. intensity or force of expression, action, etc..

   Determination lent emphasis to his proposals.

5. prominence, as of form or outline.

   The background detracts from the emphasis of the figure.

6. Electronics.,  preemphasis.

emphasis

/ ˈɛmfəsɪs /

noun

1. special importance or significance

2. an object, idea, etc, that is given special importance or significance

3. stress made to fall on a particular syllable, word, or phrase in speaking

4. force or intensity of expression

   he spoke with special emphasis on the subject of civil rights

5. sharpness or clarity of form or outline

   the sunlight gave emphasis to the shape of the mountain

Other Word Forms

• misemphasis noun
• reemphasis noun
• superemphasis noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of emphasis¹

First recorded in 1565–75; from Latin, from Greek émphasis “indication,” equivalent to em- em- ² + phásis phasis

Word History and Origins

Origin of emphasis¹

C16: via Latin from Greek: meaning, (in rhetoric) significant stress; see _emphatic

Example Sentences

This week, the stock pulled back to its 21-day exponential moving average—a metric that places emphasis on recent price changes—for the first time since moving decisively upward from $260.97 last month.

Read more on Barron's

The heads of key health agencies advocated for putting the emphasis on leucovorin, but Kennedy became convinced that he had a moral duty to get the word out about the risk of acetaminophen.

Read more on Wall Street Journal

But officials were divided over how much emphasis to put on the painkiller and were planning to discuss it as one of many possible causes, people familiar with the matter said.

Read more on Wall Street Journal

“They have so much of an emphasis of like, ‘Oh, you should just build cool things,’ ” he says.

Read more on Wall Street Journal

Regulators, blaming Boeing’s emphasis on production over quality, imposed the production limit after a fuselage panel blew off an Alaska Airlines jet midair in early 2024.

Read more on Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• attention 
• insistence 
• intensity 
• priority 
• significance 
• strength 
• stress 
• weight