EMPHATIC

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does emphatic mean? 

• EMPHATIC (adjective)
  The adjective EMPHATIC has 3 senses:

1. spoken with emphasis

2. sudden and strong

3. forceful and definite in expression or action

  Familiarity information: EMPHATIC used as an adjective is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• EMPHATIC (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Spoken with emphasis

Synonyms:

emphasised; emphasized; emphatic

Context example:

an emphatic word

Similar:

accented; stressed (bearing a stress or accent)

Derivation:

emphasis (intensity or forcefulness of expression)

emphasis (the relative prominence of a syllable or musical note (especially with regard to stress or pitch))

Sense 2

Meaning:

Sudden and strong

Synonyms:

emphatic; exclamatory

Context example:

an emphatic no

Similar:

forceful (characterized by or full of force or strength (often but not necessarily physical))

Derivation:

emphasis (the relative prominence of a syllable or musical note (especially with regard to stress or pitch))

Sense 3

Meaning:

Forceful and definite in expression or action

Synonyms:

emphatic; forceful

Context example:

the document contained a particularly emphatic guarantee of religious liberty

Similar:

assertive; self-asserting; self-assertive (aggressively self-assured)

Derivation:

emphasis (intensity or forcefulness of expression)

emphasis (special and significant stress by means of position or repetition e.g.)

emphasis (special importance or significance)

 Context examples 

“What can be the meaning of that emphatic exclamation?” cried he.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

He said this, in his peculiar, subdued, yet emphatic voice; looking, when he had ceased speaking, not at me, but at the setting sun, at which I looked too.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

"Entirely, sir—entirely!" I was very emphatic.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

"There is no such word as 'ain't,'" she said, prettily emphatic.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

I thought Peggotty would have thrown the candlestick away, she was so emphatic with it.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

The coastguard on duty at once made report, and one old fisherman, who for more than half a century has kept watch on weather signs from the East Cliff, foretold in an emphatic manner the coming of a sudden storm.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Mrs. Reed was rather a stout woman; but, on hearing this strange and audacious declaration, she ran nimbly up the stair, swept me like a whirlwind into the nursery, and crushing me down on the edge of my crib, dared me in an emphatic voice to rise from that place, or utter one syllable during the remainder of the day.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)