accentuate

Accentutate is a verb meaning to make something more noticeable or prominent, to emphasize or highlight a feature, or to give additional emphasis to a point in speech or writing. It can describe both visual emphasis in design and auditory emphasis in spoken language.

Etymology: The word derives from the noun "accent" and the suffix "-uate," forming a verb in English. It entered English via French accentuer, ultimately from Latin roots related to accentus (pitch or stress).

Usage: In everyday language, one might accentuate a feature by using color contrast or framing. In linguistics and phonetics, it refers to marked prominence of a syllable or word through stress or intonation. In rhetoric and marketing, it is used to describe strategies that heighten attention to a message or product.

Examples: The designer accentuated the doorway with a contrasting trim to draw the eye. The speaker accentuated the key point by pausing and changing pitch. The brochure uses a bold font to accentuate the headline.

See also: emphasis, highlight, underline, emphasis in typography.