Other forms: emphasized, emphasizes, emphasizing
To emphasize something is to press hard on a point so that nobody can miss it. Saying it twice, saying it slowly, or underlining it.
You emphasize a word by leaning on it in speech and a point by returning to it. In writing, italics and bold do the same job. The word also works on things nobody is saying at all — a jacket that emphasizes the shoulders, lighting that emphasizes every crack. British English usually spells it with an s and American English with a z, and both are read as correct everywhere.
1verbemphasizeTo give special importance or force to something.
“He emphasized that the deadline would not move.”
synonyms: underline, highlight
2verbfeatureTo make a feature more noticeable.
“The cut of the coat emphasizes the waist.”
Also accepted in games: emphasise, stress
Proto-Indo-European
*bʰeh₂-
Ancient Greek
ἔμφασις — significance
Latin
emphasis
English
emphasis
English, today
emphasize
Built from
Latin -, from Ancient Greek - – see emphasis. by surface analysis, emphasis + -ize. emphasis comes from Latin emphasis, from Ancient Greek ἔμφασις (“significance”), from ἐμφαίνω (“to present; to indicate”), from ἐν- (“in”) + φαίνω (“to show”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA