emphasizeverb [ T ]
UK usually emphasise uk/ˈem.fə.saɪz/us/ˈem.fə.saɪz/B2 to show that something is very important or worth giving attention to:
[ + question word ] I'd just like to emphasize how important it is for people to learn foreign languages.
[ + that ] He emphasized that all the people taking part in the research were volunteers.
You can use italics or capitals to emphasize a word in a piece of writing.
to make something more obvious:
Tight jeans will only emphasize any extra weight that you are carrying.
More examples
- I must emphasize that this exercise should not be done by pregnant women.
- She emphasized the importance of fresh fruit and vegetables in the diet.
- Officials emphasized that no decision had been reached.
- He emphasized how important diet was to health.
- Bettelheim emphasized the importance in child development of play and fantasy.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Stressing & emphasizing
- accent
- accentuate
- drive
- emphasis
- emphatic
- freaking
- fronting
- gloss
- hammer
- hammer sth home idiom
- howling
- impress sth on/upon sb
- place
- play
- play sth up
- point
- point sth out
- point sth up
- should
- underline
See more results »