highlighting
noun · adjective
Simple meaning
Causing emphasis, drawing attention.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
hylytingSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈhaɪlaɪtɪŋ
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
The visual emphasis of text by means of a highlight.
An area of the skin or hair containing highlights.
adjective
Causing emphasis, drawing attention; revealing.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate (estimated)
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: The visual emphasis of text by means of a highlight.
Used this way, highlighting is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use highlighting
- “The artist used highlighting to make certain parts of the painting stand out.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
Move into the foreground to make more visible or prominent.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
A cosmetic used to highlight the eyes or cheekbones.
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What Does It Mean Here?
Words can change meaning depending on context.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.