Underscore this.

Have you noticed the rampant use of “underscore” in news stories? Everything is underscored by something. The New York Times used it 1,691 times in the past year. Maybe it’s just the prevelance of the media’s “interpreting” in the guise of news. There are a dozen other ways of saying the same thing — such as accentuate, highlight, stress, call attention to, emphasize — but underscore sounds fancier, at least to reporters and editors.

Fine under: Making it sound smart.