Adjacent Words

Emphasis definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

EM'PHASIS, n. In rhetoric, a particular stress of utterance, or force of voice, given to the words or parts of a discourse, whose signification the speaker intends to impress specially upon his audience; or a distinctive utterance of words, specially significant, with a degree and kind of stress suited to convey their meaning in the best manner.
The province of emphasis is so much more important than accent, that the customary seat of the latter is changed, when the claims of emphasis require it.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: special importance or significance; "the red light gave the central figure increased emphasis"; "the room was decorated in shades of grey with distinctive red accents" [syn: emphasis, accent]
2: intensity or forcefulness of expression; "the vehemence of his denial"; "his emphasis on civil rights" [syn: vehemence, emphasis]
3: special and significant stress by means of position or repetition e.g.
4: the relative prominence of a syllable or musical note (especially with regard to stress or pitch); "he put the stress on the wrong syllable" [syn: stress, emphasis, accent]

Merriam Webster's

noun (plural emphases) Etymology: Latin, from Greek, exposition, emphasis, from emphainein to indicate, from en- + phainein to show — more at fancy Date: 1573 1. a. force or intensity of expression that gives impressiveness or importance to something b. a particular prominence given in reading or speaking to one or more words or syllables 2. special consideration of or stress or insistence on something

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. (pl. emphases) 1 special importance or prominence attached to a thing, fact, idea, etc. (emphasis on economy). 2 stress laid on a word or words to indicate special meaning or importance. 3 vigour or intensity of expression, feeling, action, etc. 4 prominence, sharpness of contour. Etymology: L f. Gk f. emphaino exhibit (as EN-(2), phaino show)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Emphasis Em"pha*sis, n.; pl. Emphases. [L., fr. Gr. ? significance, force of expression, fr. ? to show in, indicate; ? in + ? to show. See In, and Phase.] 1. (Rhet.) A particular stress of utterance, or force of voice, given in reading and speaking to one or more words whose signification the speaker intends to impress specially upon his audience. The province of emphasis is so much more important than accent, that the customary seat of the latter is changed, when the claims of emphasis require it. --E. Porter. 2. A peculiar impressiveness of expression or weight of thought; vivid representation, enforcing assent; as, to dwell on a subject with great emphasis. External objects stand before us . . . in all the life and emphasis of extension, figure, and color. --Sir W. Hamilton.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(emphases) Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English. 1. Emphasis is special or extra importance that is given to an activity or to a part or aspect of something. Too much emphasis is placed on research... Grant puts a special emphasis on weather in his paintings. = stress N-VAR: oft N on n 2. Emphasis is extra force that you put on a syllable, word, or phrase when you are speaking in order to make it seem more important. 'I might have know it!' Miss Burnett said with emphasis... The emphasis is on the first syllable of the last word. N-VAR

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. 1. Stress (on certain words), force of utterance. 2. Impressiveness, significance, weight.

Moby Thesaurus

Alexandrine, accent, accentuation, amphibrach, amphimacer, anacrusis, anapest, antispast, arsis, attention, bacchius, beat, cadence, caesura, catalexis, chloriamb, chloriambus, colon, concern, concernment, consequence, consequentiality, consideration, counterpoint, cretic, dactyl, dactylic hexameter, diaeresis, dimeter, dipody, dochmiac, elegiac, elegiac couplet, elegiac pentameter, epitrite, excellence, feminine caesura, foot, force, grammatical accent, gravity, heptameter, heptapody, heroic couplet, hexameter, hexapody, high order, high rank, iamb, iambic, iambic pentameter, ictus, import, importance, interest, intonation, intonation pattern, ionic, jingle, level of stress, lilt, mark, masculine caesura, materiality, measure, merit, meter, metrical accent, metrical foot, metrical group, metrical unit, metrics, metron, molossus, moment, mora, movement, note, numbers, paeon, paralipsis, paramountcy, pentameter, pentapody, period, pitch accent, precedence, preeminence, primacy, primary stress, priority, proceleusmatic, prominence, prosodics, prosody, pyrrhic, quantity, rhetorical accent, rhythm, rhythmic pattern, rhythmical accent, rhythmical stress, secondary stress, self-importance, significance, spondee, sprung rhythm, stress, stress accent, stress arsis, stress pattern, superiority, supremacy, swing, syzygy, tertiary stress, tetrameter, tetrapody, tetraseme, thesis, tone accent, tribrach, trimeter, tripody, triseme, trochee, underlining, underscoring, value, weak stress, weight, worth