emotion

UK: /ɪˈməʊʃ^ən/ US: /ɪˈmoʊʃən/ ,(i mō′shən)

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026

e•mo•tion /ɪˈmoʊʃən/   n. 

1. any of the feelings of joy, sorrow, fear, hate, love, etc.:
   [countable] War produces strong emotions.

e•mo•tion•al, adj. 
e•mo•tion•al•ly, adv. See -mot-.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026

e•mo•tion  (i mō′shən), n. 

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.
3. 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.
4. an instance of this.
5. something that causes such a reaction:
   the powerful emotion of a great symphony.

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

e•mo′tion•a•ble, adj. 
e•mo′tion•less, adj. 
Synonyms

• 1. See feeling. 

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

emotion / ɪˈməʊʃən/ noun

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

Etymology: 16th Century: from French, from Old French esmovoir to excite, from Latin ēmovēre to disturb, from movēre to move