Adjacent Words

Emotion definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

EMO'TION, n. [L. emotio; emoveo, to move from.]
1. Literally, a moving of the mind or soul; hence,any agitation of mind or excitement of sensibility.
2. In a philosophical sense, an internal motion or agitation of the mind which passes away without desire; when desire follows, the motion or agitation is called a passion.
3. Passion is the sensible effect, the feeling to which the mind is subjected,when an object of importance suddenly and imperiously demands its attention. The state of absolute passiveness, in consequence of any sudden percussion of mind, is of short duration. The strong impression, or vivid sensation, immediately produces a reaction correspondent to its nature, either to appropriate and enjoy, or avoid and repel the exciting cause. This reaction is very properly distinguished by the term emotion.
Emotions therefore, according to the genuine signification of the word, are principally and primarily applicable to the sensible changes and visible effects, which particular passions produce on the frame, in consequence of this reaction, or particular agitation of mind.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: any strong feeling

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: Middle French, from emouvoir to stir up, from Old French esmovoir, from Latin emov?re to remove, displace, from e- + mov?re to move Date: 1579 1. a. obsolete disturbance b. excitement 2. a. the affective aspect of consciousness ; feeling b. a state of feeling c. a conscious mental reaction (as anger or fear) subjectively experienced as strong feeling usually directed toward a specific object and typically accompanied by physiological and behavioral changes in the body Synonyms: see feeling

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. a strong mental or instinctive feeling such as love or fear. Etymology: earlier = agitation, disturbance of the mind, f. F émotion f. émouvoir excite

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Emotion E*mo"tion, n. [L. emovere, emotum, to remove, shake, stir up; e out + movere to move: cf. F. ['e]motion. See Move, and cf. Emmove.] A moving of the mind or soul; excitement of the feelings, whether pleasing or painful; disturbance or agitation of mind caused by a specific exciting cause and manifested by some sensible effect on the body. How different the emotions between departure and return! --W. Irving. Some vague emotion of delight. --Tennyson. Syn: Feeling; agitation; tremor; trepidation; perturbation; passion; excitement. Usage: Emotion, Feeling, Agitation. Feeling is the weaker term, and may be of the body or the mind. Emotion is of the mind alone, being the excited action of some inward susceptibility or feeling; as, an emotion of pity, terror, etc. Agitation may the bodily or mental, and usually arises in the latter case from a vehement struggle between contending desires or emotions. See Passion. ``Agitations have but one character, viz., that of violence; emotions vary with the objects that awaken them. There are emotions either of tenderness or anger, either gentle or strong, either painful or pleasing.'' --Crabb.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(emotions) Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English. 1. An emotion is a feeling such as happiness, love, fear, anger, or hatred, which can be caused by the situation that you are in or the people you are with. Happiness was an emotion that Reynolds was having to relearn... Her voice trembled with emotion. = feeling N-VAR 2. Emotion is the part of a person's character that consists of their feelings, as opposed to their thoughts. ...the split between reason and emotion.

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. Feeling, passion, excitement (of sensibility), mental agitation.

Moby Thesaurus

a high, affect, affection, affectivity, arousal, attitude, emotional charge, emotional shade, emotivity, excitability, excitedness, excitement, exhilaration, experience, feeling, feeling tone, foreboding, gut reaction, heartthrob, impression, manic state, mental attitude, opinion, passion, position, posture, presentiment, profound sense, psychology, reaction, response, responsiveness, sensation, sense, sensibility, sensitiveness, sensitivity, sentiment, stance, stimulation, susceptibilities, undercurrent, way of thinking