How to use emphatic in a sentence

19 example sentences · adjective, noun

Emphatic means characterized by emphasis; forceful. Example: “He gave me an emphatic no when I asked him out.”

Examples of emphatic by meaning

adjectiveCharacterized by emphasis; forceful.

After breaking Nadal in the opening game of the final set, he went 2-0 up and later took the count to 4-2 with yet another emphatic ace – one of his 22 throughout.2012 June 28, Jamie Jackson, “Wimbledon 2012: Lukas Rosol shocked by miracle win over Rafael Nadal”, in the Guardian

adjectiveStated with conviction.

He gave me an emphatic no when I asked him out.

adjectiveRelating to an emphatic pronoun, or a noun with an emphatic suffix attached to it.

In Irish, the emphatic form of "mé" is "mise".

More sentences with emphatic

For example, voiced consonants are devoiced prepausally, and some urban speakers may deemphaticize emphatic consonants.2000, Jonathan Owens, “Loanwords in Nigerian Arabic: a quantitative approach”, in Arabic as a Minority Language (Contributions to the…. From the entry deemphaticize
This syntactic correctio (self-correction) is not so emphatic as to constitute full ambiguity.1998, Alastair Fowler, editor, Paradise Lost (Longman Annotated English Poets, Second Edition), →ISBN, page 17. From the entry correctio
With an appreciative flick of her thick brows, Nikki replied with an emphatic, “Really!1992 January, Kevin Sherrill, chapter 18, in Steel Lightning: Slash and Burn, New York, N.Y.: Zebra Books, →ISBN, page 150. From the entry inflate-a-date
And with an emphatic nod to give point to her self-possession Mrs.1934, Ernest Bramah, The Bravo of London. From the entry point
It shell-shocked the home crowd, who quickly demanded a response, which came midway through the half and in emphatic fashion.2011 October 1, Phil Dawkes, “Sunderland 2 - 2 West Brom”, in BBC Sport. From the entry midway
To Peter's surprise, Breslin was emphatic: "Stay in the system.1972, Princeton University, “March 21, 1972”, in Princeton Alumni Weekly - Volume 72, page 9. From the entry don't get mad, get even
He was most emphatic that we should go there.[1933 September, James Hilton, Lost Horizon, London: Macmillan and Co., Limited, St. Martin's Street, London, published October and…. From the entry Shangri-La
An utterly emphatic 5-0 victory was ultimately capped by two wonder strikes in the last two minutes from Aston Villa midfielder Gary Gardner.2011 November 10, Jeremy Wilson, “England Under 21 5 Iceland Under 21 0: match report”, in Telegraph. From the entry stride
As he had done throughout, the forward ran straight at Chelsea's defence, riding two challenges and even falling before firing an emphatic shot past Cech.2011 October 29, Phil McNulty, “Chelsea 3 - 5 Arsenal”, in BBC Sport. From the entry duly
The grosbeak's distinctive call note, an emphatic peek, and its robinesque song cascade from the maple while Casey weeds his lemon sorrel.1992, Ted Levin, Blood Brook: A Naturalist's Home Ground, Post Mills, Vt.: Chelsea Green Pub. Co., →ISBN, page xiii. From the entry robinesque
Further, it is strongly possible that the emphatic or asseverative lamed is etymologically distinct from the preposition, though the Masoretes do not distinguish the two.1990, Bruce K. Waltke, Michael Patrick O'Connor, An Introduction to Biblical Hebrew Syntax, page 211. From the entry asseverative
This was an emphatic performance and victory, the hosts controlling affairs from pretty much first to last in a display that suggested they are genuinely moving forward once again.2022 October 1, Phil McNulty, “Arsenal 3-1 Tottenham: Gunners show identity & direction in outstanding derby win”, in BBC Sport, archived…. From the entry genuinely
This was arguably a more emphatic win than that Old Trafford thrashing, without the freakish element and simply the result of City's vast superiority in all areas.2013 September 22, Phil McNulty, “Man City 4–1 Man Utd”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), BBC Sport, archived from the…. From the entry freakish
However, Team Jacob members on the Anglophone boards were even more emphatic in their dismissal of Edward, and several posters argued that his behavior was abusive.2010, Inger-Lise Kalviknes Bore, Rebecca Williams, “Transnational Twilighters: A Twilight Fan Community in Norway”, in Melissa A. Click…. From the entry Team Jacob
The extent to which relativism has conquered the thinking processes of the academic freedomites would, on reflection, I believe, astound even the most emphatic of their number.1951, William F[rank] Buckley, Jr., “The Superstitions of ‘Academic Freedom’”, in God and Man at Yale: The Superstitions of “Academic…. From the entry freedomite
The room contained an odd assortment of odors, of which the most emphatic at the moment seemed to be the pungent aftermath of cordite and the sickish aroma of ether.1939, Raymond Chandler, The Big Sleep, →ISBN, page 35. From the entry cordite

Meaning of emphatic

adjective Characterized by emphasis; forceful.
adjective Stated with conviction.
adjective Belonging to a set of English tense forms comprising the auxiliary verb do plus an infinitive without to.

Full definition of emphatic

Questions about emphatic in a sentence

How do you use emphatic in a sentence?: Emphatic is used as an adjective and noun. For example: “He gave me an emphatic no when I asked him out.”
What is a short sentence with emphatic?: “He was most emphatic that we should go there.”
What does emphatic mean?: Emphatic means characterized by emphasis; forceful.

Adapted from Wiktionary: emphatic (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this page: “How to use emphatic in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/emphatic. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.