Synonyms

emphasize

American

[em-fuh-sahyz] / ˈɛm fəˌsaɪz /

especially British, emphasise

verb (used with object)

to give emphasis to; lay stress upon; stress.

to emphasize a point;
to emphasize the eyes with mascara.

Synonyms:

highlight, accentuate, accent

emphasize British

/ ˈɛmfəˌsaɪz /

verb

(tr) to give emphasis or prominence to; stress

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

unemphasizing

adjective

Inflected Forms

Participles

Conjugated Forms

Present

Past

Future

Etymology

Origin of emphasize

First recorded in 1820–30; emphas(is) + -ize

Explanation

To emphasize is to make something important, or stress it, like when you were little and your parents would always emphasize the importance of looking both ways before crossing the street. They told you again and again and again. And again. The verb emphasize works when you really want to stress a point or give extra weight to an issue. Emphasize comes from words that mean “significance” and “to present or show.” A player who finally makes the varsity team might emphasize this achievement by always wearing his practice jersey — even off the field, or you might emphasize the importance of being on time by locking the door on latecomers.

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Vocabulary lists containing emphasize

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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.

However, the authors emphasize that being beyond the reach of current particle accelerators does not make the theory impossible to test.

From Science Daily • Jul. 5, 2026

Install hockey play-by-play announcers who emphasize the rising action, then scream “goal!”

From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 4, 2026

So far, though, Denyer and team emphasize official holdings of U.S.

From MarketWatch • Jun. 26, 2026

But they also emphasize that a trauma response isn’t necessarily confirmation of a memory’s accuracy.

From Salon • Jun. 25, 2026

They disagree on which social factors to emphasize and on how much weight to assign individual Spanish chronicles, but the outline seems not in serious dispute.

From "1491" by Charles C. Mann

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023