EMPHASIZE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does emphasize mean? 

• EMPHASIZE (verb)
  The verb EMPHASIZE has 2 senses:

1. to stress, single out as important

2. give extra weight to (a communication)

  Familiarity information: EMPHASIZE used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• EMPHASIZE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they emphasize    ... he / she / it emphasizes   
Past simple: emphasized   
Past participle: emphasized   
-ing form: emphasizing   

Sense 1

Meaning:

To stress, single out as important

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

accent; accentuate; emphasise; emphasize; punctuate; stress

Context example:

Dr. Jones emphasizes exercise in addition to a change in diet

Hypernyms (to "emphasize" is one way to...):

evince; express; show (give expression to)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "emphasize"):

background; downplay; play down (understate the importance or quality of)

bring out; set off (direct attention to, as if by means of contrast)

re-emphasise; re-emphasize (emphasize anew)

bear down (pay special attention to)

topicalize (emphasize by putting heavy stress on or by moving to the front of the sentence)

point up (emphasize, especially by identification)

drive home; press home; ram home (make clear by special emphasis and try to convince somebody of something)

emphasise; emphasize; underline; underscore (give extra weight to (a communication))

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something
Somebody ----s that CLAUSE

Derivation:

emphasis (special importance or significance)

emphasizing (the act of giving special importance or significance to something)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Give extra weight to (a communication)

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

emphasise; emphasize; underline; underscore

Context example:

Her gesture emphasized her words

Hypernyms (to "emphasize" is one way to...):

accent; accentuate; emphasise; emphasize; punctuate; stress (to stress, single out as important)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something
Somebody ----s that CLAUSE

Derivation:

emphasizing (the act of giving special importance or significance to something)

 Context examples 

The new moon of November 26 will emphasize your second house of income too, and will also underscore your popularity in the marketplace.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

"I can't love anyone else, and I'll never forget you, Jo, Never! Never!" with a stamp to emphasize his passionate words.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

The DASH eating plan emphasizes vegetables, fruits, and whole grains; includes fat-free or low-fat dairy products, fish, poultry, beans, nuts, and vegetable oils; and limits sweets, sugary beverages, and red meats.

(Low-glycemic diets may not improve cardiovascular outcomes when compared to high-glycemic diets, NIH)

The survey is periodically redesigned to emphasize data collection on current health issues.

(National Health Interview Survey, NCI Thesaurus)

Specifies whether an event or entity is pointed out or emphasized.

(Highlighted Indicator, NCI Thesaurus)

Much of the course work emphasizes qualitative and quantitative analysis methods.

(Doctor of Social Work, NCI Thesaurus)

The study also emphasized the impact of species' mobility on their resilience.

(Galapagos sea life study highlights importance of biodiversity in the face of climate change, National Science Foundation)

His strong loose hands clench themselves, in his earnestness; and he emphasizes what he says with a right arm that shows, in my pigmy view, like a sledge-hammer.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

The monotonous drip of the coffee from the table to the floor merely emphasized the silence.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

A subdiscipline of psychiatry that is concerned with the study of conditioning, learning, perception, motivation, emotion, language, and thinking; also used in relation to subject-matter areas in which experimental methods are emphasized.

(Experimental Psychiatry, NCI Thesaurus)