emotion

Etymology

From French émotion, from émouvoir (“excite”) based on Latin ēmōtus, past participle of ēmoveō (“to move out, move away, remove, stir up, agitate”), from ē- (“out”) (variant of ex-), and moveō (“move”).

Pronunciation

• (General American, Canada) IPA^(key): /ɪˈmoʊʃən/, /iˈmoʊʃən/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɪˈməʊʃən/

• Audio (CA)

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• Audio (US)

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• Rhymes: -əʊʃən

Noun

emotion (countable and uncountable, plural emotions)

1. A person's internal state of being and involuntary physiological response to an object or a situation, based on or tied to physical state and sensory data.
   • 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 5, in The Mirror and the Lamp:

     He was thinking; but the glory of the song, the swell from the great organ, the clustered lights, […], the height and vastness of this noble fane, its antiquity and its strength—all these things seemed to have their part as causes of the thrilling emotion that accompanied his thoughts.

2. A reaction by a non-human organism with behavioral and physiological elements similar to a person's response.