I need a word to describe an expression, such as an interjection or exclamation that in itself has practically no meaning at all, but which is inserted, usu at the end of a statement, as a means of expressing the speaker's feelings; a means of emphasis, agreement, surprise, doubt, request for response, etc etc; eg,
n. <esp. as pl.). A letter, linguistic form, part of speech, phrase, or syllable that is expressive or indicative of emphasis; joc., an expletive.
1837 G. PHILLIPS Elem. Syriac Gram. 24 To the absolute and constructive state of nouns,..the Syrians add a third, the Definite, or as it has been more generally called, the Emphatic. 1845 S. AUSTIN Ranke's Hist. Ref. III. 221 He declared in the most emphatic manner, that it was a..duty to oppose the..Turks. 1847 GROTE Greece (1862) III. xxxix. 405 An emphatic passage of..Æschylus. 1873 GILBERT More ‘Bab’ Ballads 52, I have known him indulge in profane, ungentlemanly emphatics. 1905Daily Chron. 23 Oct. 3/4 His emphatics, his luxuriant indulgence in the use of the ‘and’. 1938Indogerman. Forsch. Dec. 247 Adverbs include..emphatics denoting emphasis or restriction, e.g. indeed, also, only.1970Language XLVI. 374 There remain still to be considered the instances of pronominalization in simplex sentences: reflexives, emphatics, and topicalized sentences.
I couldn't find that definition in any of the other dictionaries I looked in. They all listed emphatic only as an adjective, except for Dictionary.com Unabridged, which defined it as a noun meaning "an emphatic consonant." What's an emphatic consonant?
I need a word to describe an expression, such as an interjection or exclamation that in itself has practically no meaning at all, but which is inserted, usu at the end of a statement, as a means of expressing the speaker's feelings; a means of emphasis, agreement, surprise, doubt, request for response, etc ...
To repeat, huh?
Build a man a fire and he's warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.
