emphasis

pronunciation

How to pronounce emphasis in British English: UK [ˈemfəsɪs] word uk audio image

How to pronounce emphasis in American English: US [ˈemfəsɪs] word us audio image

Noun:

special importance or significance
intensity or forcefulness of expression
special and significant stress by means of position or repetition e.g.
the relative prominence of a syllable or musical note (especially with regard to stress or pitch)

Word Origin

emphasis: emphasis: [16] In Greek, émphasis originally meant simply ‘appearance’. It was a derivative of emphaínein ‘exhibit, indicate’, a compound verb formed from the prefix en- ‘in’ and phaínein ‘show’ (source of English phase). It came to be used as a grammatical term denoting ‘implication’ (as opposed to ‘directly expressed meaning’) and passed in this sense via Latin emphasis into English. Its main modern use, ‘special importance placed on something’, derives from the stressing of a particular word or phrase in speech to show that it is intended to imply something other than its literal meaning might seem to suggest.=> phase

emphasis (n.): 1570s, "intensity of expression," from Latin emphasis, from Greek emphasis "an appearing in, outward appearance;" in rhetoric, "significance, indirect meaning," from emphainein "to present, exhibit, display, let (a thing) be seen; be reflected (in a mirror), become visible," from assimilated form of en "in" (see en- (2)) + phainein "to show" (see phantasm). In Greek and Latin, originally a figure of expression implying more than would ordinarily be meant by the words, it developed a sense of "extra stress" given to a word or phrase in speech as a clue that it implies something more than literal meaning. In pure Latin, significatio.

4. In paris the emphasis was on gertrude , who lived there until her death .

5. Hanks reads every line dozens of times , varying his interpretations and emphasis .