emote

/ɪˈməʊt/US/əˈmoʊt/

emote verb: to display or express (emotions, mental states, etc.) openly, particularly while acting, and especially in an excessive manner. Also the clipping of emoticon.

Verb

emote (third-person singular simple present emotes, present participle emoting, simple past and past participle emoted)

(transitive) To display or express (emotions, mental states, etc.) openly, particularly while acting, and especially in an excessive manner.
- In the Latin category, dancers begin the round in carnival mode, bouncing and curving voltas traveling down the length of the floor, emoting happy celebration in a Brazilianesque samba.2017, Laurie Frederik, “Painting the Body Brown and Other Lessons on How to Dance Latin”, in Laurie Frederik, Kim Marra, Catherine Schuler, Showing Off, Showing Up: Studies of Hype, Heightened...
(transitive) To deliver (a speech), say (lines of a play, words), etc., in a dramatic or emotional manner, especially if overly so.
(intransitive) To display (excessive) emotion, especially while acting.
- She doesn't smile much; she doesn't emote. Shannen is still.1993 November, Lynn Hirschberg, “Brat on a Hot Tin Roof”, in Vanity Fair
- Clint Eastwood, huh? You don't see him emoting all over the place, and what woman doesn't want to get down with "Dirty Harry," huh?1999 November 14, Remi Aubuchon, “Fear and Loathing in Gotham”, in Jack & Jill, season 1, episode 7
Synonyms:

emotionalize
(Internet, intransitive) To express a virtual action, presented to other users as a graphic or reported speech, rather than sending a straightforward message.
(intransitive) To perform a short action, such as a gesture or a dance move, which may be seen by other players but does not have any effect on gameplay.
- There aren't many chances to see your character in Borderlands 3, but one of them is when you're emoting. Emoting allows your character to perform a gesture like a wave or a thumbs up, and it shifts the camera to a third-person view while they do.2019 September 17, Austen Goslin, “Borderlands 3 guide: How to use emotes”, in Polygon, archived from the original on 02 Feb 2023
- Lords of the Fallen is yet another entry in the action-RPG soulslike craze, complete with an unsettling fantasy setting, other players invading your game for some co-op or PvP goodness, and, of course, lots of dying. It makes use of the same sort of deadly third-person combat system full of dodge...2023 October 12, Travis Northup, “Lords of the Fallen Review”, in IGN, archived from the original on 07 Nov 2023

Noun

emote (plural emotes)

(Internet) A virtual action expressed to other users as a graphic or reported speech rather than a straightforward message.
- She replied with an emote: "*hugs* I'm sorry"
A short action, such as a gesture or a dance move, which may be seen by other players but does not have any effect on gameplay.
- Many video games allow players to purchase emotes for real-life money.
- Juggernaut franchises like Call of Duty and Battlefield are trying to capitalize on the success of Fortnite, but battle-royale games aren't just about skins and emotes.2018 June 14, Carter Melrose, “Why Battle Royale Games Like Fortnite Are Everywhere (It’s Not Just Money)”, in Wired, San Francisco, Calif.: Condé Nast Publications, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the...

Also used as

emote is also the clipping of emoticon.

Examples of emote in a sentence

The use of SMOrc and similar emotes requires, and signifies, membership in the Twitch Hearthstone community.
Its fusion of mundane domestic tragedy, dark-night-of-the-soul emoting and hypermuscular camerawork suggests Robert Altman’s “Short Cuts” on jet-propelled roller skates.
A rap is literally inlandish (the product of barbarians born within the gates), a scatological scat-singing, the agonistic display of an uncomplicatedly emoting mammal.

All 13 example sentences with emote

Synonyms of emote

emotionalize

Forms of emote

Verb
third-person singular present	emotes
present participle	emoting
past participle	emoted
past	emoted
Noun
plural	emotes

Past tense of emote: emoted

Origin of emote

The verb is a back-formation from emotion.

Words formed from emote

Words that rhyme with emote

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about emote

What does emote mean?: Emote means to display or express (emotions, mental states, etc.) openly, particularly while acting, and especially in an excessive manner.
What part of speech is emote?: Emote can be a verb or a noun.
How do you pronounce emote?: Emote is pronounced /ɪˈməʊt/ (UK).
What is the past tense of emote?: The past tense of emote is emoted.

Words near emote in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: emote (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-emote.wav.

Cite this entry: “emote.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/emote. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.