emotion

[ih-moh-shuhn]

noun

1. an affective state of consciousness in which joy, sorrow, fear, hate, or the like, is experienced, as distinguished from cognitive and volitional states of consciousness.

2. any of the feelings of joy, sorrow, fear, hate, love, etc.

3. any strong agitation of the feelings actuated by experiencing love, hate, fear, etc., and usually accompanied by certain physiological changes, as increased heartbeat or respiration, and often overt manifestation, as crying or shaking.

4. an instance of this.

5. something that causes such a reaction.

   the powerful emotion of a great symphony.

emotion

/ ɪˈməʊʃən /

noun

1. any strong feeling, as of joy, sorrow, or fear

emotion

1. A psychological state that arises spontaneously rather than through conscious effort and is sometimes accompanied by physiological changes; a feeling.

Other Word Forms

• emotionable adjective
• emotionless adjective
• preemotion noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of emotion¹

First recorded in 1570–80; apparently from Middle French esmotion, from esmovoir “to set in motion, move the feelings,” from Vulgar Latin exmovēre (unrecorded; literary Latin ēmovēre ); e- ¹ ( def. ), move ( def. ), motion ( def. )

Word History and Origins

Origin of emotion¹

C16: from French, from Old French esmovoir to excite, from Latin ēmovēre to disturb, from movēre to _move

Example Sentences

“That was so much more than a number. It connected the moment to one six decades earlier. It connected Cal Ripken to freaking Lou Gehrig. It evokes memories and emotions unlike numbers in any sport.”

From Los Angeles Times

She also made it to the semi-finals at Wimbledon, but on all three occasions emotions got the better of the 27-year-old.

From BBC

When Winslet allows the dam surrounding Mare’s despair to crack a little, frosting the blank spaces between lines of dialogue with pure aching emotion, tearing your eyes away is impossible.

From Salon

As for his own emotions, he figures he will have them in check, even with his father-in-law on the opposite sideline.

From Los Angeles Times

Mr Cook's older brother Chris Cook, 50, told the BBC the family were told the news just days after the 20th anniversary of his death and it raised complicated emotions.

From BBC

Related Words

• affection 
• anger 
• concern 
• desire 
• despair 
• empathy 
• excitement 
• feeling 
• fervor 
• grief 
• happiness 
• joy 
• love 
• passion 
• pride 
• rage 
• remorse 
• sadness 
• sentiment 
• shame 

When To Use

What does emotion mean?

An emotion is a spontaneous mental reaction, such as joy, sorrow, hate, and love. Emotions always involve mental activity and sometimes have physical effects on the body, as in She could tell what emotion he was feeling by looking at his face.The word emotion is used generally to refer collectively to these intense feelings or an expression of them, as in The director really wanted to see some emotion from the lead actress.What causes someone’s emotions and how someone feels or expresses their emotions differs from person to person. You and your friend might both feel sad to have failed an important test. Your reaction to your sad emotion might be to cry, while your friend’s reaction might be to shout.The word emotional describes something that is related to emotions, causing an emotion to happen, or easily experiencing emotions.Example: I have a hard time sharing my emotions with people and instead try to appear stoic.