The Collaborative International Dictionary
emphasis \em"pha*sis\ ([e^]m"f[.a]*s[i^]s), n.; pl. Emphases ([e^]m"f[.a]*s[=e]z). [L., fr. Gr. 'e`mfasis significance, force of expression, fr. 'emfai`nein to show in, indicate; 'en in + fai`nein to show. See In, and Phase.]
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(Rhet.) A particular stress of utterance, or force of voice, given in reading and speaking to one or more words whose signification the speaker intends to impress specially upon his audience.
The province of emphasis is so much more important than accent, that the customary seat of the latter is changed, when the claims of emphasis require it.
--E. Porter. -
A peculiar impressiveness of expression or weight of thought; vivid representation, enforcing assent; as, to dwell on a subject with great emphasis.
External objects stand before us . . . in all the life and emphasis of extension, figure, and color.
--Sir W. Hamilton. a special attention given to, or extra importance attached to, something; as, a guided tour of Egypt with emphasis on the monuments along the Nile.
something to which great importance is attached; as, the need for increased spending on education was the emphasis of his speech.
Wiktionary
n. (plural of emphasis English)
WordNet
See emphasis
n. special importance or significance; "the red light gave the central figure increased emphasis"; "the room was decorated in shades of gray with distinctive red accents" [syn: accent]
intensity or forcefulness of expression; "the vehemence of his denial"; "his emphasis on civil rights" [syn: vehemence]
special and significant stress by means of position or repetition e.g.
the relative prominence of a syllable or musical note (especially with regard to stress or pitch); "he put the stress on the wrong syllable" [syn: stress, accent]
[also: emphases (pl)]
Usage examples of "emphases".
Through his pupil 'Brom-ston (1004-64), who founded the monastery of Reting (Rva-sgreng), Atisa counts as the source of one of the many traditions or sects, which with the exception of the rNying-ma-pa, or followers of Padmasambhava, owe their beginnings to the different Indian and Tibetan personalities active during the Second Diffusion and the monasteries where the special emphases of their teachings were institutionalised.
Wimfort's features had the fine symmetry that adolescence can show right up to the brink of adulthood's emergent emphases and distortions.
What he had told them, the emphases he had placed, had frightened him, too.
Kilmartin’s voice was full of the light inflections of whimsy, the sonorous and beguiling range of tones and emphases, of words lingered on, others dropped like petals on water, at once inviting and intimate, one minute wryly direct, dreamily inconclusive the next.