What does "emphasis" mean?

1. (importance or focus) special importance or attention given to something to make it stand out. 2. (stress in speech) extra force you use when saying a particular word or syllable. 3. (visual highlighting) using special formatting like bold or italics to make text stand out.

How do you use "emphasis"?

Commonly follows the verbs 'place', 'put', or 'lay'.

Is it correct to say "The course puts an emphasis to practical skills."?

No — say "The course puts an emphasis on practical skills.". The noun 'emphasis' almost always takes the preposition 'on' when identifying the object of focus.

emphasis

US //ˈɛmfəsəs// UK //ˈɛmfəsˌɪs// em·pha·sis

1 importance or focus (n.)
B2 Upper Intermediate Academic

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'.

Example

The school puts a lot of emphasis on music and art.

Example

The new government policy places a heavy emphasis on renewable energy investment to meet its climate targets by the end of the decade.

Usage

Commonly follows the verbs 'place', 'put', or 'lay'.
- neglect
- indifference
Pitfall

The 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.
2 stress in speech (n.)
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.

Example

You should put the emphasis on the second syllable of the word.

Example

By shifting the emphasis to the final word of the sentence, the speaker completely changed the underlying meaning of the statement.

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3 visual highlighting (n.)
C1 Advanced Academic Technical

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.

Example

I used italics for emphasis so the reader would notice the main point.

Example

The editor suggested using boldface for emphasis on key terms throughout the manual to improve readability for new users.
- highlighting
- formatting

Origin

From Latin emphasis, from Ancient Greek ἔμφασις (émphasis, “significance”), from ἐμφαίνω (emphaínō, “to present; to indicate”), from ἐν- (en-, “in”) + φαίνω (phaínō, “to show”).