emit
Americanverb (used with object)
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emits,
present (3rd person singular)
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emitted,
past participle, past
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emitting
present participle
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to send forth (liquid, light, heat, sound, particles, etc.); discharge.
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to give forth or release (a sound).
He emitted one shrill cry and then was silent.
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to utter or voice, as opinions.
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to issue, as an order or a decree.
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to issue formally for circulation, as paper money.
verb
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to give or send forth; discharge
the pipe emitted a stream of water
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to give voice to; utter
she emitted a shrill scream
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physics to give off (radiation or particles)
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to put (currency) into circulation
Usage
What does emit mean? Emit means to release or discharge something, such as gas, liquid, heat, sound, light, or radiation. The process of emitting is called emission. Emission can also refer to something that has been emitted. A specific example of an emission is the exhaust emitted from cars (in the U. S., such emissions are regulated through emissions tests). This exhaust is just one form of carbon emissions—greenhouse gases emitted from various sources that are known to contribute to global warming and climate change. In things like TVs and light bulbs, the term LED stands for “light-emitting diode,” a semiconductor device that emits light when conducting current. Emit usually implies that things are being released in a passive way, but some senses of the word are more active. Emit sometimes specifically means to give off or make a sound, as in My cat emitted the worst sound when I accidentally stepped on his tail. It can also be used in a somewhat figurative way meaning to say or voice, as in She certainly emitted her opinion. Example: Collectively, volcanoes emit carbon dioxide at far lower levels than cars and airplanes.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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emitsimple
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emitssimple
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have emittedperfect
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has emittedperfect
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am emittingprogressive
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are emittingprogressive
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is emittingprogressive
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have been emittingperfect progressive
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has been emittingperfect progressive
Past
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emittedsimple
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had emittedperfect
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was emittingprogressive
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were emittingprogressive
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had been emittingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of emit
First recorded in 1620–30; from Latin ēmittere “to send forth,” from ē- e- 1 + mittere “to let go, send”
Explanation
To emit means to give off or let out, and it usually has a lot to do with gases, smells and noises. All of which could be potentially embarrassing, depending on where they're coming from. Lots of things can be emitted: body heat from your hands, high-pitched sound waves from a dog whistle, nasty odors from your mouth after a garlic-heavy lunch. Coming from the Latin emitter, it simply means to “send forth.” Since climate change is such a hot topic, you've probably heard people talking about how much CO₂ cars emit or how many greenhouse gases factories emit into the air.
Vocabulary lists containing emit
List 3
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Send a Message: Mit and Miss
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The SAT: Multiple-Meaning Words, List 8
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Astronomers identify different types of cosmic dust by studying the infrared light they emit.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 19, 2026
He’d seen the TV commercials for the new sets, powered by “smart bricks” that light up when laser blasts are fired and emit a chorus of zooming spacecraft engine sounds.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 18, 2026
The ETS forces heavy polluters to pay for the greenhouse gases they emit, obliging them to buy allowances that are capped in number, sold in auctions and tradable.
From Barron's ● Jul. 17, 2026
Under the ETS, Europe's industries and power plants are required to buy a permit, or allowance, for every tonne of carbon dioxide they emit, creating a financial incentive to invest in cleaner technologies.
From BBC ● Jul. 17, 2026
We could look for the gamma rays that the primordial black holes emit during most of their lifetime.
From "A Brief History of Time: And Other Essays" by Stephen Hawking
Gaofen 3 uses 'synthetic aperture radar,' or SAR, which emits microwave pulses to gather data, capturing imagery at any time of day or night, regardless of cloud cover.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 29, 2026
A single advanced chip fab can draw enormous amounts of water and electricity, and chip production as a whole emits well over 100 million tons of carbon equivalent a year.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 6, 2026
Caputo said that phenomenon was expected and normal, because when the Sun is in its more active cyclical stages, it emits more particles and causes an expansion of Earth's atmosphere.
From Barron's ● Jun. 30, 2026
Residents might intermittently smell MMA, which emits a fruity odor, throughout the cleanup, but health officials said it will be only at concentrations below any threshold that would prompt health concerns.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 27, 2026
The same logic works in reverse; if you know how much light a train’s headlight emits, you can measure its apparent brightness and calculate the train’s distance from you.
From "Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea" by Charles Seife
The vessel last emitted a radio transmission while it was off the coast of Yemen on June 11, according to ship tracking sites reviewed by AFP.
From Barron's ● Aug. 6, 2026
For decades, scientists have detected an unexplained rise in the number of low-energy gamma rays emitted by certain nuclei.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 31, 2026
Heatwaves are expected to become more frequent, more intense and longer-lasting the more greenhouse gases are emitted.
From BBC ● Jul. 12, 2026
Industrial fires release far more materials than the burned wood smoke that is emitted during wildfires.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 30, 2026
Everything that could smell like lemon cleaner emitted citrus notes.
From "The Last Last-Day-of-Summer" by Lamar Giles
Consumption by data centres is projected to exceed 945 TWh by 2030, ranking sixth among countries and emitting 399 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent.
From Barron's ● Jun. 3, 2026
Kevin Wagner, vice president of the medical sterilizer company Sterigenics, messaged asking that nine facilities emitting the carcinogenic gas ethylene oxide, including near Salt Lake City, Los Angeles, Charlotte and Atlanta, be exempted.
From Salon ● May 10, 2026
But many LED bulbs are installed with a much higher color temperature, near 4,000 Kelvins, which our brains interpret as harsh and bright, regardless of how many lumens they’re actually emitting.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 8, 2026
On Friday afternoon, Mount Dukono was still emitting volcanic material from its crater, according to one local resident assisting rescuers.
From BBC ● May 8, 2026
Now imagine a source of light at a constant distance from us, such as a star, emitting waves of light at a constant wavelength.
From "A Brief History of Time: And Other Essays" by Stephen Hawking
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
