e ‧ mo ‧ tion W3 /ɪˈməʊʃ ə n $ ɪˈmoʊ-/ BrE AmE noun [uncountable and countable]
[ Word Family: noun : ↑ emotion , ↑ emotionalism ; adverb : ↑ emotionally , ↑ emotively ; adjective : ↑ emotional ≠ ↑ unemotional , ↑ emotive ; verb : ↑ emote ]
[ Date: 1500-1600 ; Language: French ; Origin: émouvoir 'to cause to have strong feelings' , from Latin movere 'to move' ]
a strong human feeling such as love, hate, or anger:
Her voice was full of emotion.
conflicting/mixed emotions
Sara listened with mixed emotions.
She was good at hiding her emotions.
Kim received the news without showing any visible sign of emotion.
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COLLOCATIONS
■ adjectives
▪ strong/intense
Issues such as abortion arouse strong emotions.
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The emotion was so intense that she spent most of the movie in tears.
▪ powerful (=having a very strong effect on someone)
Grief is a very powerful emotion.
▪ deep (=strongly felt, but not always expressed)
He had never revealed these deep emotions to anyone.
▪ painful (=one that is difficult to deal with)
Painful emotions, stored away in the patient’s memory, can suddenly come flooding back.
▪ overwhelming (=a very strong emotion that you feel suddenly)
She was filled with an overwhelming emotion of relief.
▪ a positive emotion (=love, happiness, hope etc)
Try to focus on your positive emotions.
▪ a negative emotion (=anger, fear, hate etc)
It’s not easy learning how to deal with negative emotions.
▪ mixed/conflicting emotions (=a mixture of very different feelings)
She had mixed emotions about seeing him again.
▪ pent-up emotions (=emotions that someone feels but does not express)
Crying can release pent-up emotions.
▪ great emotion
She sings with great emotion.
▪ real emotion (=very strong emotion)
There was real emotion in his voice.
▪ raw emotion (=strong emotions that someone shows openly and does not control)
The crowd responded to his words with raw emotion.
▪ human emotions
the expression of human emotions through music and poetry
■ verbs
▪ show emotion
He didn’t show any emotion when I told him I was pregnant.
▪ express an emotion (=show or talk about)
He had always found it difficult to express his emotions.
▪ feel/experience an emotion
Seeing him with his new wife, she felt emotions that she did not want to feel again.
▪ hide your emotions ( also conceal your emotions formal )
Laura could not hide her emotions, or pretend to feel something she did not.
▪ stir up people’s emotions (=deliberately try to make people have strong feelings)
His speech roused the crowd and stirred up their emotions.
■ phrases
▪ be full of emotion (=showing or feeling strong emotions, especially sadness)
When she spoke, Nellie’s voice was full of emotion.
▪ be overcome with emotion (=feel an emotion so strongly that you cannot behave normally)
As soon as I heard that song, I was overcome with emotion.
▪ be choked with emotion (=feel so much emotion that you cannot speak normally)
Mr Ford’s voice was choked with emotion as he addressed the mourners.
▪ be devoid of emotion formal (=not showing or feeling any emotion)
I find his books completely devoid of emotion.
▪ a display/expression of emotion (=an emotion that is shown clearly openly)
Such open displays of emotion made him feel uncomfortable.
▪ a sign of emotion
He showed no sign of emotion as the guilty verdict was read out.
▪ a hint/trace/flicker of emotion (=a very small sign that someone feels an emotion)
I thought I saw a flicker of emotion in his eyes.
▪ a wave/flood/surge/rush of emotion (=a sudden very strong emotion)
A great surge of emotion swept through her when she learnt that he was safe.
▪ the depth of an emotion (=how strong an emotion is)
She was surprised by the depth of her emotions.
▪ lack of emotion
George’s apparent lack of emotion was too much to bear.