background, play down, downplay - understate the importance or quality of; "he played down his royal ancestry"

set off, bring out - direct attention to, as if by means of contrast; "This dress accentuates your nice figure!"; "I set off these words by brackets"

re-emphasise, re-emphasize - emphasize anew; "The director re-emphasized the need for greater productivity"

bear down - pay special attention to; "The lectures bore down on the political background"

evince, express, show - give expression to; "She showed her disappointment"

topicalize - emphasize by putting have stress on or by moving to the front of the sentence; "Speakers topicalize more often than they realize"; "The object of the sentence is topicalized in what linguists call `Yiddish Movement'"

point up - emphasize, especially by identification; "This novel points up the racial problems in England"

press home, ram home, drive home - make clear by special emphasis and try to convince somebody of something; "drive home a point or an argument"; "I'm trying to drive home these basic ideas"

emphasise, underline, underscore, emphasize - give extra weight to (a communication); "Her gesture emphasized her words"

enounce, enunciate, pronounce, sound out, articulate, say - speak, pronounce, or utter in a certain way; "She pronounces French words in a funny way"; "I cannot say `zip wire'"; "Can the child sound out this complicated word?"