Dictionary
Find
in
Dictionary
Thesaurus
Translations

Click to move up the list of words
emotion
emotional
emotional blackmail
emotional cripple
emotional intelligence
emotionalise
emotionalism
emotionalist
emotionalize
emotionless
emotive
emotivism
EMP
Emp.
empale
empanada
empanel
Click to move down the list of words
Also available:

World English Dictionary
Dictionnaire Français

emphasis

em·pha·sis [ émfəssiss ] (plural em·pha·ses [ émfə sz ])


noun 
Definition:
 
1. importance: special importance, significance, or stress
puts emphasis on exercise

2. forcefulness of expression: forcefulness of expression to indicate the importance of something
Your opening paragraph needs greater emphasis to grab the reader's attention.

3. extra spoken stress on important word: extra stress of voice put on a syllable, word, or phrase, usually to show its significance

[Late 16th century. Via Latin< Greek, "significance, appearance" < emphainein "to show, indicate" < phainein "to show"]
Advertisement

© 2009 Microsoft