gesticulation

American  

[je-stik-yuh-ley-shuhn] / dʒɛˌstɪk yəˈleɪ ʃən /

noun

1. the act of gesticulating.

2. an animated or excited gesture.

---

gesticulation British  

/ dʒɛˌstɪkjʊˈleɪʃən /

noun

1. the act of gesticulating

2. an animated or expressive gesture

---

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• overgesticulation
  noun
• gesticulatory
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of gesticulation

First recorded in 1595–1605, gesticulation is from the Latin word gesticulātiōn- (stem of gesticulātiō ). See gesticulate, -ion

Explanation

A gesticulation is a dramatic movement that gets attention. Some stand-up comedians dash across the stage, throwing their hands around, as they act out what they are talking about. These gesticulations become part of the act. You can see the word gesture in gesticulation. When you gesture, you move in a way that communicates feelings about what you're saying, such as shrugging your shoulders while saying, "I don't know." A gesticulation is even more emphatic than that — a gesture might be a shrug of the shoulders, but add upturned palms and a comical facial expression that shows confusion and you have gesticulation.

Example Sentences

Gesticulation; the external deportment of the speaker, or the suiting of his attitude, voice, gestures, and countenance, to the subject, or to the feelings.

From Webster's Unabridged Dictionary by Webster, Noah

Gesticulation, observation of, 49; com- pared with writing, 49.

From Criminal Psychology; a manual for judges, practitioners, and students by Gross, Hans Gustav Adolf

They read them instead of pronouncing them by Heart, which prevents them from falling into that extravagant Gesticulation, and those mad Rants and Enthusiasm, which commonly irritate more than edify.

From The Memoirs of Charles-Lewis, Baron de Pollnitz, Volume II Being the Observations He Made in His Late Travels From Prussia thro' Germany, Italy, France, Flanders, Holland, England, &C. in Letters to His Friend. Discovering Not Only the Present State of the Chief Cities and Towns; but the Characters of the Principal Persons at the Several Courts. by P?llnitz, Karl Ludwig von

Gesticulation was for them a science learnedly termed chironomy.

From The Wonders of Pompeii by Monnier, Marc