emphasis
- 01 B2 Upper Intermediate
special importance or attention given to something to make it stand out.
special importance, value, or prominence given to something. Often used with the preposition 'on'.
Simple“The school puts a lot of emphasis on music and art.”
In context“The new government policy places a heavy emphasis on renewable energy investment to meet its climate targets by the end of the decade.”
UsageCommonly follows the verbs 'place', 'put', or 'lay'.
PitfallThe course puts an emphasis to practical skills. The course puts an emphasis on practical skills.The noun 'emphasis' almost always takes the preposition 'on' when identifying the object of focus.
SynonymsAntonyms - 02 B2 Upper Intermediate
extra force you use when saying a particular word or syllable.
the stress or vocal force given to a syllable or word in speech to distinguish it from others.
Simple“You should put the emphasis on the second syllable of the word.”
In context“By shifting the emphasis to the final word of the sentence, the speaker completely changed the underlying meaning of the statement.”
- 03 C1 Advanced
using special formatting like bold or italics to make text stand out.
the use of typographical features, such as italics, boldface, or underlining, to highlight specific text.
Simple“I used italics for emphasis so the reader would notice the main point.”
In context“The editor suggested using boldface for emphasis on key terms throughout the manual to improve readability for new users.”
Synonyms
Usage emphasis shift · increasing emphasis · particular emphasis
“And this is very important for me as a coach.” In the Netherlands , there has always been a strong emphasis on attacking football, which is why Xavi fitted the bill.”
“Stop looking for evidence that students are using these tools to cheat and shift our emphasis to looking for evidence that learning has occurred.”
From Latin emphasis, from Ancient Greek ἔμφασις (émphasis, “significance”), from ἐμφαίνω (emphaínō, “to present; to indicate”), from ἐν- (en-, “in”) + φαίνω (phaínō, “to show”).
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.