emphasis

B1 Topic:General Vocabulary

US /ˈɛmfəsɪs/ See IPA manual

Freq #16022

Meanings

1

noun
Special importance or attention given to something

The school places great emphasis on reading.
2

noun
Extra force given to a word or idea to show it matters

He paused for emphasis before announcing the winner.
3

noun
The extra force or stress placed on a syllable or musical note

When you play a march, put the emphasis on the first beat of each bar.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · special importance or... accent

2 noun · extra force given to a word... stress

3 noun · the extra force or stress... accent stress

Word family

Forms emphases

Derived forms de-emphasisdeemphasishyperemphasismisemphasisoveremphasispreemphasisreemphasissuperemphasisunderemphasis

Related forms de-emphasisationde-emphasizationemphasisationemphasiseemphasiseremphasisingemphasizationemphasizeemphasizeremphasizing emphaticemphatical

Etymology

From Latin emphasis, from Ancient Greek ἔμφασις (émphasis, “significance”), from ἐμφαίνω (emphaínō, “to present; to indicate”), from ἐν- (en-, “in”) + φαίνω (phaínō, “to show”).

*bʰeh₂- Proto-Indo-European emphasis Latin ἔμφασις Ancient Greek

View etymology graph ->

Topics

General Vocabulary

External links

# emphasis

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B1
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /ˈɛmfəsɪs/
**Frequency rank:** 16022

## Meanings
1. Special importance or attention given to something
2. Extra force given to a word or idea to show it matters
3. The extra force or stress placed on a syllable or musical note

## Examples
- The school places great emphasis on reading.
- He paused for emphasis before announcing the winner.
- When you play a march, put the emphasis on the first beat of each bar.

## Derived Forms
- de-emphasis
- deemphasis
- hyperemphasis
- misemphasis
- overemphasis
- preemphasis
- reemphasis
- superemphasis
- underemphasis

## Related Forms
- de-emphasisation
- de-emphasization
- emphasisation
- emphasise
- emphasiser
- emphasising
- emphasization
- emphasize
- emphasizer
- emphasizing
- emphatic
- emphatical

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: *bʰeh₂-
- Root: emphasis
- Root: ἔμφασις

## Etymology
From Latin emphasis, from Ancient Greek ἔμφασις (émphasis, “significance”), from ἐμφαίνω (emphaínō, “to present; to indicate”), from ἐν- (en-, “in”) + φαίνω (phaínō, “to show”).

## AI Etymology
Emphasis comes from Latin emphasis, from Ancient Greek ἔμφασις (émphasis, “significance”), from ἐμφαίνω (emphaínō, “to present; to indicate”), from ἐν- (en-, “in”) + φαίνω (phaínō, “to show”). In current use, the main senses are “Special importance or attention given to something” and “Extra force given to a word or idea to show it matters”.

## Topics
- General Vocabulary

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