emote

American  

[ih-moht] / ɪˈmoʊt /

verb (used without object)

emotes, present (3rd person singular) emoted, past participle, past emoting present participle

1. to show or pretend emotion.

   to emote over the beauties of nature.

2. to portray emotion in acting, especially exaggeratedly or ineptly; behave theatrically.

   The actress emoted for all she was worth.

3. Digital Technology. (in an online chat or video game) to give a conventionalized descriptive account of an action or emotion or prompt one’s in-game avatar to perform an animated action or emotion using a command or code.

   To emote, type a forward slash and one of the commands from the list in chat.

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noun

Digital Technology.

1. 1. (in an online chat or video game) a typed command or code that is translated into a descriptive account of an action or emotion, or that causes one’s in-game avatar to perform an action or emotion.

      Standard emotes in online video games allow you to cheer, greet, and thank other characters.

   2. (in a video game) the animation that is performed when such a code is entered.

      The first thing I do in a new game is check out my character’s dance emote.

2. (in an online chat) a posted image, especially on the Twitch streaming video channel, that has a fixed but nontransparent meaning in the video gaming community.

   Classic emotes feature popular streamers making faces.

emote British  

/ ɪˈməʊt /

verb

1. (intr) to display exaggerated emotion, as in acting; behave theatrically

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• emoter
  noun
• overemote
  verb (used without object)

Inflected Forms

Participles

• emoting
  present
• emoted
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• emote
  simple
• emotes
  simple
• have emoted
  perfect
• has emoted
  perfect
• am emoting
  progressive
• are emoting
  progressive
• is emoting
  progressive
• have been emoting
  perfect progressive
• has been emoting
  perfect progressive

Past

• emoted
  simple
• had emoted
  perfect
• was emoting
  progressive
• were emoting
  progressive
• had been emoting
  perfect progressive

Future

• will emote
  simple
• will have emoted
  perfect
• will be emoting
  progressive
• will have been emoting
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of emote

An Americanism first recorded in 1915–20; back formation from emotion

Explanation

To emote is to express emotion, particularly when you're acting in a film or a play. If an actor doesn't emote, the audience can't tell how he's supposed to be feeling in a scene. When people emote, it sometimes appears overdone or melodramatic. Taking a feeling and exaggerating it so that an audience can understand the character's emotions is what actors do when they emote. The noun emotion came first, and the theatrical verb emote followed in the early twentieth century. The Old French root word is emouvoir, or "stir up," from the Latin emovere, "move out, remove, or agitate."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

emote emotes emoted emoting

How do you think the athletic nature of a big arena show will impact your ability to emote?

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 25, 2026

You can watch a good actor, and they can really make you emote, right, because there’s an instant accessibility.

From Salon ● Feb. 1, 2026

It released the emote as part of a Charli XCX-themed concert within Dress to Impress, a popular game available on the platform.

From BBC ● Sep. 4, 2025

Even before the war, she said, Ukrainians tended to be stoic and reluctant to emote.

From New York Times ● Mar. 18, 2023

They brood; they emote; but the idea that they are murderous is a cultural libel.

From "Geeks: How Two Lost Boys Rode the Internet Out of Idaho" by Jon Katz

She emotes, she has a developed backstory, and she delivers some of the film’s most compelling dialogue with confident gusto.

From Salon ● Jul. 25, 2025

“Fortnite” players can also purchase backpacks — “back bling” — and “Spider-Verse” emotes to taunt their opponents.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 23, 2023

For all of its motion, the whole work is restrained, reserved, well-behaved while the music emotes, soft-focused even after the scrim lifts.

From New York Times ● May 5, 2023

The gold currency is unique to iHeartLand, but it’s not clear if the emotes are exclusive or available elsewhere in Fortnite.

From The Verge ● Aug. 25, 2022

Twitch and other platforms have even gone so far as to remove certain emotes because people were using them to communicate certain words.

From Washington Post ● Apr. 8, 2022

Even when silent, she emoted with the entirety of her face, arrestingly expressive with just a small hand gesture.

From New York Times ● Jul. 28, 2021

I was particularly proud of the fact that in two scenes — one in particular — I really emoted.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 22, 2021

As in her “Keeping Up With the Kardashians” confessionals, she rarely emoted while talking.

From Seattle Times ● Feb. 7, 2020

Trump emoted so vigorously that sweat pooled on his upper lip and glistened across his face.

From Washington Post ● Mar. 9, 2019

Later, she had become a soubrette and a star in merry little plays in which she sang and danced and "emoted," all in one evening.

From My Actor-Husband A true story of American stage life by Anonymous

Songs like “No Good Deed” and “March of the Witch Hunters” are chopped up and rearranged to allow for more dialogue and less emoting, distending the film into a bloated heap.

From Salon ● Nov. 21, 2025

Now, the aim is to keep layoffs even more efficient—with fewer chances for ugly public scenes or communal emoting.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 17, 2025

Which was something I’d never been asked to do before, to trust that the audience will still hopefully be invested, even if there’s not a lot of emoting.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 21, 2023

What the state is wrestling with, and the public is emoting about, is the coming end of the internal combustion engine.

From Seattle Times ● Mar. 1, 2023

It seemed as if the shaft sighed every time steam rose from it, as if emoting a whisper of anticipation.

From "October Sky" by Homer Hickam