# Highlighting match\_phrase matches words not phrases

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/highlighting-match-phrase-matches-words-not-phrases/63003>\
**Category:** Elasticsearch\
**Created:** [October 13, 2016, 9:30pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/highlighting-match-phrase-matches-words-not-phrases/63003 "2016-10-13T21:30:28Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![joe.nunez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d78d45/32.png) [@joe.nunez](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/joe.nunez)\
**Post date:** [October 13, 2016, 9:30pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/highlighting-match-phrase-matches-words-not-phrases/63003/1 "2016-10-13T21:30:28Z")

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Greetings,

I am new to Elasticsearch, and so am watching the Getting Started video. At approx. 43 minutes, Zach shows the highlight feature with a match\_phrase verb. I found the behavior unexpected. Each word in the phrase was emphasized separately (_lazy\</em dog). I would have expected that behavior associated with a match verb. Instead, I was expecting the entire phrase to be emphasized as a whole (lazy dog)._

What was the rationale for the selected behavior? Is there a way to accomplish a full phrase emphasis?

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**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\
**Post date:** [July 5, 2017, 10:12pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/highlighting-match-phrase-matches-words-not-phrases/63003/2 "2017-07-05T22:12:33Z")

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