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emotion

Syllabification: (e·mo·tion)
Pronunciation: /iˈmōSHən/
Translate emotion | into French | into German | into Italian | into Spanish
Definition of emotion

noun

  • a natural instinctive state of mind deriving from one’s circumstances, mood, or relationships with others:she was attempting to control her emotions his voice was low and shaky with emotion fear had become his dominant emotion
  • instinctive or intuitive feeling as distinguished from reasoning or knowledge:responses have to be based on historical insight, not simply on emotion

Origin:

mid 16th century (denoting a public disturbance or commotion): from French émotion, from émouvoir 'excite', based on Latin emovere, from e- (variant of ex-) 'out' + movere 'move'. The sense 'mental agitation' dates from the mid 17th century, the current general sense from the early 19th century

emotion in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of emotion in the British & World English dictionary