Emphatic

How to spell emphatic

8 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce emphatic

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does emphatic mean?

1. adjectiveExpressed with clear, forceful conviction that leaves no room for doubt.

Emphatic in a sentence

• The manager gave an emphatic denial of the rumour during the meeting.

• Her emphatic refusal to sign the contract ended the negotiation.

Where does emphatic come from?

Language of origin: Greek

The word descends from the Greek emphatikos, an adjective meaning 'forcibly expressive' or 'strikingly significant'. It was built on emphasis, which in turn came from the verb emphainein, literally 'to show in' or 'to display', formed from em- meaning 'in' and phainein meaning 'to show'. The same phainein root gives English a whole family of light-and-showing words, including 'phenomenon', 'phase' and 'phantom', which is why the spelling keeps that telltale 'ph'. English adopted the term in the seventeenth century, first in discussions of rhetoric and grammar, where an emphatic word was one given special force, before it broadened into the everyday sense of forceful, unmistakable assertion. Remembering that the middle sound is really the Greek 'ph' for showing helps explain why it is not spelled with a plain 'f'.

How the word is built

• em- (in)
• phat (from Greek phainein: to show)
• -ic (adjective suffix)