Emphasizing

How to spell emphasizing

11 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce emphasizing

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does emphasizing mean?

1. verbGiving special importance, weight, or prominence to something in speech or writing.

Emphasizing in a sentence

• The manager kept emphasizing the importance of meeting the deadline.

• By emphasizing the second syllable, she made the word easier to understand.

Where does emphasizing come from?

Language of origin: Greek

This word traces back to the Greek emphasis, which combined en, meaning 'in', with the verb phainein, meaning 'to show' or 'to make appear'. In ancient Greek and later in Latin rhetoric, emphasis referred to an implied or hidden meaning suggested by the way something was expressed, rather than the loud stress we associate with it today. The noun reached English in the late 1500s through Latin, and the verb 'emphasize' was formed from it in the early 1800s by adding the productive ending that turns nouns into verbs. The same phainein root, meaning 'to bring to light', also gives us 'phase', 'phenomenon', and 'phantom', all of which involve things appearing or showing themselves. The spelling trap here is the quiet middle: the 'ph' sounds like an 'f', and the unstressed second syllable is easy to fumble, while the present participle simply adds '-ing' to the verb stem.

How the word is built

• em- (in, from Greek en)
• phas (root phainein: to show or make appear)
• -ize (verb-forming suffix)
• -ing (present participle)

British and American spelling

Emphasizing is the American spelling. British English spells it emphasising.