emphasized

American  

[em-fuh-sahyzd] / ˈɛm fəˌsaɪzd /

especially British, emphasised

adjective

1. made more visible, more important, etc.; stressed.

   Read the emphasized sentence carefully, and contrast it with the information given in the previous paragraph.

   Good sportsmanship was the emphasized theme of the club's operations.

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verb

1. the simple past tense and past participle of emphasize.

Other Word Forms

• unemphasized adjective
• well-emphasized adjective

Etymology

Origin of emphasized

emphasize ( def. ) + -ed ² ( def. )

Explanation

Something that's emphasized is stressed. The emphasized point of a politician's speech might be lowering taxes. When you put stress on something or pay it extra attention, you can describe it as emphasized. There are emphasized syllables in words, emphasized subjects in school, and emphasized parts of a wedding reception speech. The source of the adjective emphasized is the noun emphasis, "importance or stress." Emphasis is a Greek word, used in rhetoric to mean "significance" or "indirect meaning," from emphainein, "let a thing be seen."

Example Sentences

Smith emphasized that these findings apply at the population level and may not be appropriate for every individual.

From Science Daily • Apr. 16, 2026

Spokespeople for the DOJ and DHS emphasized that their departments are focused on ensuring elections are free and fair, and that they are working closely with the states to achieve those goals.

From Salon • Apr. 14, 2026

Marcus added that Trump’s announcement of a blockade was “more of a surprise,” but he emphasized that it is limited compared with the U.S. president’s “more expansive initial framing” of the move.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 13, 2026

As CEO Elon Musk has emphasized, that target is a key milestone in Tesla’s path toward unsupervised FSD, in addition to the important task of scaling up an unsupervised robotaxi fleet, the analysts say.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 10, 2026

His dark half-dome forehead and gravely receding hairline emphasized a broad face, broad chest and shoulders, and enormously muscular arms.

From "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver

Related Words

• accentuate
• affirm
• assert
• highlight
• indicate
• maintain
• point out
• reiterate
• repeat
• underline
• underscore