adjective

emphatic

em-FAT-ik/ɪmˈfætɪk/

Expressed or done with force and certainty.

His outward palm and turned head make the refusal emphatic.

An emphatic refusal: a man firmly rejects an offered car key with a decisive outward-facing palm, a turned-away head, and an unmistakably resolute expression.

Etymology

emGreekin

+phatGreekto show

+icGreekrelating to

The underlying image is of showing something within an expression. Through the rhetorical sense of suggesting extra meaning and stressing it in delivery, emphatic came to describe forceful, strongly expressive words.

In context

SpeechMate1:25

using an emphatic gesture this time as part of a joke now what these gestures do is they accentuate what he's saying

Your Best Man Speech - Examples of how to use emphatic gestures 20/30

More examples

An emphatic gesture ended the debate.
He was emphatic about the need for accuracy.
The team celebrated an emphatic victory.

Forms

emphatic · more emphatic · most emphatic

emphasis noun — special force or importance

Similar words

forceful: Forceful means strong in expression; emphatic particularly stresses certainty or insistence.
definite: Definite means clear and settled; emphatic adds expressive force.