emphasize

[ em-fuh-sahyz ]

verb (used with object)

, em·pha·sized, em·pha·siz·ing.

1. to give emphasis to; lay stress upon; stress: to emphasize the eyes with mascara.

   to emphasize a point;

   to emphasize the eyes with mascara.

   Synonyms: highlight, accentuate, accent

emphasize

/ ˈɛmfəˌsaɪz /

verb

1. tr to give emphasis or prominence to; stress

Other Words From

• hy·per·em·pha·size verb (used with object) hyperemphasized hyperemphasizing
• mis·em·pha·size verb (used with object) misemphasized misemphasizing
• re·em·pha·size verb (used with object) reemphasized reemphasizing
• su·per·em·pha·size verb (used with object) superemphasized superemphasizing
• un·em·pha·siz·ing adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of emphasize¹

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

Example Sentences

The pharmaceutical industry and public health officials must emphasize safety first.

From Fortune

“We are not claiming we found life on Venus,” Seager emphasizes.

From MIT Technology Review

InMarket also emphasizes third party validation of its audience targeting and attribution methodology, as well as location-data accuracy.

From Search Engine Land

This book emphasizes that nothing is fixed—not intelligence, not capacity, not skill set.

From Fortune

You emphasize how easy it is for anyone to be taken in throughout the series.

From Vox

Many Americans move to places that de-emphasize the particularities of their local community.

From The Daily Beast

The pictures of Gilkes emphasize, quite rightly and inevitably, his classic good looks.

From The Daily Beast

Sharpton would later emphasize to The Daily Beast that he neither possesses nor desires such power.

From The Daily Beast

In 2014, it appears, the key to winning in a swing state is to avoid talking about issues and emphasize pig castration.

From The Daily Beast

And as if to emphasize their accounts, in early afternoon a U.S. airstrike hit a building in the middle of Kobani.

From The Daily Beast

I have wanted him to do it absolutely on his own, and I could not emphasize this better than by coming right away to Mudros.

From Project Gutenberg

The centenary of Petrarch celebrated at Avignon in 1874 tended to emphasize the importance and the glory of the new literature.

From Project Gutenberg

Wherefore Bud had deliberately done what he could do to stimulate and emphasize both the surprise and the gratification.

From Project Gutenberg

It is only necessary to take all these things for granted, and emphasize certain other things which are peculiar to the sea.

From Project Gutenberg

In an ordinary light it is only a few broad planes of value and color without an accent object to emphasize or centre on.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

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