unemphatic

adjective

un·​em·​phat·​ic ˌən-im-ˈfa-tik How to pronounce unemphatic (audio)
-em-
: not having or characterized by special emphasis or stress : not emphatic
unemphatic speech
a calm, unemphatic tone of voice
unemphatically adverb
speaking slowly and unemphatically

Examples of unemphatic in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
The former is quietly involving: unhurried, unemphatic, observant. Mark Feeney, BostonGlobe.com, 4 Nov. 2021 The beat is steady and usually unemphatic; the song circles through three chords again and again. Jon Pareles, New York Times, 6 July 2018 This 1991 feature, the second by Mexican filmmaker Maria Novaro, is leisurely paced and unemphatic but firmly conceived and executed, with a lot of feeling for female solidarity. Patrick Friel, Chicago Reader, 17 Apr. 2018 This line, delivered in his usual uninflected, unemphatic tone, is chilling, something that the villain in a Hitchcock thriller, one of those immaculately amoral gentleman-monsters, might have said. Lili Anolik, Vanities, 14 Dec. 2017

Word History

First Known Use

1800, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of unemphatic was in 1800

Dictionary Entries Near unemphatic

Cite this Entry

“Unemphatic.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/unemphatic. Accessed 22 Dec. 2024.

More from Merriam-Webster on unemphatic

Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!