Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Emphasis

Em′pha·sis (ĕm′fȧ·sĭs), n.; pl. Emphases (- sēz). [L., fr. Gr. ἔμφασις significance, force of expression, fr. ἐμφαίνειν to show in, indicate; ἐν in + φαίνειν to show. See In, and Phase.] 1. (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.

2. 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.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.