emphatic

UK: /ɪmˈfætɪk/ US: /ɛmˈfætɪk/ ,(em fat′ik)

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026

em•phat•ic /ɛmˈfætɪk/   adj. 

1. said or done with emphasis;
   strongly expressive;
   forceful:
   The defendant made an emphatic denial of the charges.

em•phat•i•cal•ly, adv. 

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026

em•phat•ic  (em fat′ik), adj. 

1. uttered, or to be uttered, with emphasis;
   strongly expressive.
2. using emphasis in speech or action.
3. forceful;
   insistent:
   a big, emphatic man; I must be emphatic about this particular.
4. very impressive or significant;
   strongly marked;
   striking:
   the emphatic beauty of sunset.
5. clearly or boldly outlined:
   It stands, like a great, stone dagger, emphatic against the sky.
6. Grammar of or pertaining to a form used to add emphasis, esp., in English, stressed auxiliary do in affirmative statements, as in He did call you or I do like it.
7. Phonetics having a secondary velar articulation, as certain dental consonants in Arabic.

n. 

8. an emphatic consonant.

• Greek emphatikós indicative, forceful, equivalent. to *emphat(ós) (em- em-² + phatós, variant of phantós visible, equivalent. to phan-, stem of phaínesthai to appear + -tos adjective, adjectival suffix) + -ikos -ic
• 1700–10

em•phat′i•cal•ly, adv. 
em•phat′i•cal•ness, n. 
Synonyms

• 3. positive, energetic, forcible, pronounced, decided, unequivocal, definite.

Antonyms

• 3. weak.

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

emphatic / ɪmˈfætɪk/ adjective

1. Also: emphatical expressed, spoken, or done with emphasis
2. forceful and positive; definite; direct
3. sharp or clear in form, contour, or outline

Etymology: 18th Century: from Greek emphatikos expressive, forceful, from emphainein to exhibit, display, from phainein to show