emphasized

American  

[em-fuh-sahyzd] / ˈɛm fəˌsaɪzd /

especially British, emphasised

adjective

1. made more visible, more important, etc.; stressed.

   Read the emphasized sentence carefully, and contrast it with the information given in the previous paragraph.

   Good sportsmanship was the emphasized theme of the club's operations.

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verb

1. the simple past tense and past participle of emphasize.

Other Word Forms

• unemphasized adjective
• well-emphasized adjective

Etymology

Origin of emphasized

emphasize ( def. ) + -ed ² ( def. )

Explanation

Something that's emphasized is stressed. The emphasized point of a politician's speech might be lowering taxes. When you put stress on something or pay it extra attention, you can describe it as emphasized. There are emphasized syllables in words, emphasized subjects in school, and emphasized parts of a wedding reception speech. The source of the adjective emphasized is the noun emphasis, "importance or stress." Emphasis is a Greek word, used in rhetoric to mean "significance" or "indirect meaning," from emphainein, "let a thing be seen."

Example Sentences

Throughout their journey, all four astronauts emphasized how unified Earth looks from afar -- a takeaway they hoped would permeate public consciousness.

From Barron's • Apr. 11, 2026

Grab emphasized the need to help partners adopt AI.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 9, 2026

He emphasized that he doesn’t want people becoming indebted to the IRS because of their beliefs.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 6, 2026

In interviews, he has emphasized that his time working at Trader Joe’s was never something to be ashamed of, but rather only something others chose to misunderstand.

From Salon • Apr. 4, 2026

The way I emphasized sometime it was hopeless.

From "How the García Girls Lost Their Accents" by Julia Alvarez

Related Words

• accentuate
• affirm
• assert
• highlight
• indicate
• maintain
• point out
• reiterate
• repeat
• underline
• underscore