# emphasis

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈɛmfəsɪs/ · frequency rank #5,216

## Definitions
1. Special weight or forcefulness given to something considered important.
2. Special attention or prominence given to something.
3. Prominence given to a syllable or words, by raising the voice or printing in italic or underlined type.
4. The phonetic or phonological feature that distinguishes emphatic consonants from other consonants.
5. The use of boldface, italics, or other such formatting to highlight text.

## Etymology
From Latin emphasis, from Ancient Greek ἔμφασις (émphasis, “significance”), from ἐμφαίνω (emphaínō, “to present; to indicate”), from ἐν- (en-, “in”) + φαίνω (phaínō, “to show”).

## Easily confused with
- **emphatic** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/emphasis-vs-emphatic)
- **emphasize** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/emphasis-vs-emphasize)
- **emphasise** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/emphasis-vs-emphasise)

## Common misspellings (12)
`emhpasis`, `emmphasis`, `empahsis`, `emphaiss`, `emphasiss`, `emphassi`, `emphassis`, `emphhasis`, `emphsais`, `empphasis`, `epmhasis`, `mephasis`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/emphasis