emphasize

English

Alternative forms

• emphasise (Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, UK)

Etymology

Latin, from Ancient Greek – see emphasis.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈɛm.fə.saɪz/, [ˈɛɱ.fə.saɪz]

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Verb

emphasize (third-person singular simple present emphasizes, present participle emphasizing, simple past and past participle emphasized)

1. (transitive) To stress, give emphasis or extra weight to (something).

   His two-fingered gesture emphasized what he had told his boss to do with his job.

Synonyms

• betone
• highlight
• stress
• underscore

Antonyms

• de-emphasize
• downplay

Derived terms

• reemphasize
• overemphasize
• underemphasize

Related terms

• emphasis
• emphatic

Translations

stress

• Arabic: شَدَّدَ (šaddada)
• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Basque: azpimarratu (eu)
• Belarusian: падкрэ́сліваць impf (padkréslivacʹ), падкрэ́сліць pf (padkréslicʹ), акцэнтава́ць impf or pf (akcentavácʹ)
• Bulgarian: подчерта́вам (bg) impf (podčertávam), подчерта́я pf (podčertája), изтъ́квам (bg) impf (iztǎ́kvam), изтъ́кна pf (iztǎ́kna)
• Catalan: emfatitzar (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 強調／强调 (zh) (qiángdiào), 著重 (zh) (zhuózhòng), 着重 (zhuózhòng)

• Czech: zdůrazňovat (cs) impf, zdůraznit (cs) pf
• Danish: betone (da), understrege (da)
• Dutch: benadrukken (nl), beklemtonen (nl)
• Esperanto: akcenti
• Finnish: painottaa (fi), korostaa (fi), tähdentää (fi)
• French: souligner (fr), accentuer (fr)
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: betonen (de), unterstreichen (de), hervorheben (de), akzentuieren (de)
• Greek: υπογραμμίζω (el) (ypogrammízo)
• Hungarian: hangsúlyoz (hu), nyomatékosít (hu), kiemel (hu), aláhúz (hu)
• Ido: emfazar (io)
• Italian: enfatizzare (it), sottolineare (it), evidenziare (it)
• Japanese: 強調する (ja) (きょうちょうする, kyōchō suru), アクセントをつける (akusento o tsukeru)
• Khmer: សង្កត់ធ្ងន់ (sɑɑngkɑt thngŭən)
• Korean: 강조(强調)하다 (ko) (gangjohada)
• Lao: ເນັ້ນ (nen)
• Macedonian: истакнува impf (istaknuva), истакне pf (istakne), нагласува impf (naglasuva), нагласи pf (naglasi)
• Maori: miramira, kōhure, whakatairanga
• Mongolian: please add this translation if you can
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: understreke (no), utheve (no)

• Persian: تأکید کردن (ta'kid kardan)
• Polish: podkreślać (pl) impf, podkreślić (pl) pf
• Portuguese: enfatizar (pt)
• Punjabi: ਜੋਰ ਦੇਣਾ f (jor deṇā)
• Romanian: puncta (ro), accentua (ro), releva (ro)
• Russian: подчёркивать (ru) impf (podčórkivatʹ), подчеркну́ть (ru) pf (podčerknútʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: наглаша́вати impf, нагла́сити pf

  Roman: naglašávati (sh) impf, naglásiti (sh) pf

• Slovak: zdôrazňovať impf, zdôrazniť pf
• Slovene: poudáriti pf
• Spanish: subrayar (es), enfatizar (es), hacer hincapié, recalcar (es)
• Swedish: betona (sv), understryka (sv)
• Thai: เน้น (th) (nén)
• Turkish: vurgulamak (tr)
• Ukrainian: підкре́слювати impf (pidkrésljuvaty), підкре́слити pf (pidkréslyty), акцентува́ти (uk) impf or pf (akcentuváty), наголо́шувати impf (naholóšuvaty), наголоси́ти pf (naholosýty)
• Vietnamese: nhấn mạnh (vi)