de-emphasis

American  

[dee-em-fuh-sis] / diˈɛm fə sɪs /

Or deemphasis

noun

de-emphases plural

1. a reduction in emphasis.

   There has been de-emphasis on athletic activities at the school.

2. the act or process of de-emphasizing.

3. Electronics. a process of reducing the relative amplitude of certain frequencies in a signal that have been exaggerated by preemphasis, restoring the signal to its original form.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• de-emphases
  plural

Etymology

Origin of de-emphasis

First recorded in 1935–40; de- + emphasis

Example Sentences

The summit "in a nutshell, will be an opportunity to emphasise that Europe's security is a 360-degree challenge", said a senior EU official.

From Barron's • May 4, 2026

"I want to emphasise this," Yusuf told BBC Breakfast on Monday.

From BBC • Apr. 20, 2026

There has been an effort from F1, and by extension from the teams, to emphasise the positive aspects of the new regulations, as some see them.

From BBC • Mar. 29, 2026

Israeli officials are keen to emphasise that the two countries are in lockstep, even if they occasionally, inadvertently, hint at gaps.

From BBC • Mar. 19, 2026

Composers of the mid- to late-eighteenth century limited themselves to a small choice of chords partly as a reaction to the harmonic style of their predecessors, but also to emphasise the primacy of the melody.

From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall