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.
"The Cardinal emphatically denied the media's portrayal of his meeting with Colby," Burch said.
From Barron's • Apr. 9, 2026
County elections officials have emphatically rejected those claims.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 30, 2026
This is emphatically consistent with the results in other elections in the last year.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 4, 2026
The change was emphatically backed by the Rugby Football Union's Council, with 51 votes in favour of switching away from a traditional promotion and relegation mechanism and only four against.
From BBC • Feb. 27, 2026
The intent of his queries, as he soon established, was to introduce a subject the prosecution had emphatically avoided: the question of Wells’ own role in the murder plot, and his own moral liability.
From "In Cold Blood" by Truman Capote
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.
