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emotion

[ ih-moh-shuhn ]
/ ɪˈmoʊ ʃən /
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See synonyms for: emotion / emotions / emotionable / emotionless on Thesaurus.com

noun
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.
any of the feelings of joy, sorrow, fear, hate, love, etc.
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.
an instance of this.
something that causes such a reaction: the powerful emotion of a great symphony.
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Origin of emotion

1570–80; apparently <Middle French esmotion, derived on the model of movoir: motion, from esmovoir to set in motion, move the feelings <Vulgar Latin *exmovēre, for Latin ēmovēre;see e-1, move, motion

OTHER WORDS FROM emotion

e·mo·tion·a·ble, adjectivee·mo·tion·less, adjectivepre·e·mo·tion, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use emotion in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for emotion

emotion
/ (ɪˈməʊʃən) /

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

Derived forms of emotion

emotionless, adjective

Word Origin for emotion

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

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.
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