emotion

[ ih-moh-shuhn ]
See synonyms for: emotionemotionsemotionableemotionless on Thesaurus.com

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.

  1. 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.

  2. an instance of this.

  3. something that causes such a reaction: the powerful emotion of a great symphony.

Origin of emotion

1
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 ); see e-1, move, motion

Other words from emotion

  • e·mo·tion·a·ble, adjective
  • e·mo·tion·less, adjective
  • pre·e·mo·tion, noun

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How to use emotion in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for emotion

emotion

/ (ɪˈməʊʃən) /


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

Origin of emotion

1
C16: from French, from Old French esmovoir to excite, from Latin ēmovēre to disturb, from movēre to move

Derived forms of emotion

  • emotionless, adjective

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for emotion

emotion

[ ĭ-mōshən ]


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

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.