Word of the Day: emphatic

The word emphatic has appeared in 123 articles on NYTimes.com in the past year, including on Oct. 2 in “Eliud Kipchoge Had an Unexpected Hand in His Record-Setting Runs” by Austin Meyer:

“Before the race in 2018, I got a call from the race director who said that Eliud’s team wanted to meet with me at their hotel,” Schulke recalled. They met and talked strategy. What’s the best way to get Kipchoge’s attention in a crowd of runners? How did he want his bottle held?

They looked to a table near them, where there was a vase with a tulip. “I held the vase from the bottom, and he grabbed it from the upper part,” Schulke said. “That was the most efficient way of passing it.”

The practice paid off. On that 2018 race day, Schulke navigated 11 flawless bottle handoffs, and Kipchoge set a new world-record time of 2:01:39. As clips of Kipchoge’s effort spread across the internet, so too did clips of his enthusiastic water handler who celebrated each successful pass with emphatic double fist pumps before jumping on his bicycle to ride to the next aid station.

Daily Word Challenge

Can you correctly use the word emphatic in a sentence?

Based on the definition and example provided, write a sentence using today’s Word of the Day and share it as a comment on this article. It is most important that your sentence makes sense and demonstrates that you understand the word’s definition, but we also encourage you to be creative and have fun.

Then, read some of the other sentences students have submitted and use the “Recommend” button to vote for two original sentences that stand out to you.

If you want a better idea of how emphatic can be used in a sentence, read these usage examples on Vocabulary.com.

Students ages 13 and older in the United States and the United Kingdom, and 16 and older elsewhere, can comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff.

The Word of the Day is provided by Vocabulary.com. Learn more and see usage examples across a range of subjects in the Vocabulary.com Dictionary. See every Word of the Day in this column.