gesture

UK/ˈd͡ʒɛs.t͡ʃə//ˈd͡ʒɛs.t͡ʃɚ/

gesture noun: a motion of the limbs or body, especially one made to emphasize speech.

Noun

gesture (countable and uncountable, plural gestures)

A motion of the limbs or body, especially one made to emphasize speech.
- The middle-finger gesture is really a nonverbal swear.
- Grace was in all her steps, heaven in her eye, / In every gesture dignity and love.1667, John Milton, “Book VII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished...
An act or a remark that serves as a formality or as a sign of attitude.
- We took flowers as a gesture of sympathy.
- But, with a gesture, she put a period to this dalliance—one shouldn't palter so on an empty stomach, she might almost have said.1922, Michael Arlen, “2/4/1”, in “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days
A motion made with a pointing device, or on a touchscreen, that is recognised by the system as a command.
- This Web browser can be controlled with mouse gestures.
(obsolete) The manner of carrying the body; position of the body or limbs; posture.
- Accubation, or lying down at meals, was a gesture used by very many nations.1650, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […], 2nd edition, London: […] A[braham] Miller, for Edw[ard] Dod and Nath[aniel] Ekins, […], →OCLC

Verb

gesture (third-person singular simple present gestures, present participle gesturing, simple past and past participle gestured)

(intransitive) To make a gesture or gestures.
- My dad told me never to gesture with my hands when I talk.
- Never gesture at someone using your middle finger: it may be perceived as an insult.
Synonyms:

gesticulate
(transitive) To express (something) by a gesture or gestures.
- He gestured his disgust.
(transitive) To accompany or illustrate with gesture or action.
- It is not orderly read, nor gestured as beseemeth.[1594], Richard Hooker, edited by J[ohn] S[penser], Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie, […], London: […] Iohn Windet, […], →OCLC, (please specify the page)
(transitive) To express or signal (to someone) by a gesture or gestures (to do something, go somewhere, etc).
- […] she sweepingly gestured him to the pillory — a chair upon the platform, facing the school. Here he suffered for the unusual term of an hour, with many jocular and cunning eyes constantly upon him; and, when he was released at noon, horrid shouts […]1915, Booth Tarkington, “Wednesday Madness”, in The Cosmopolitan, page 61
- “Then what can you do?” she snapped. “I was told you were the best. Was that an idle boast?” He sighed and gestured her to sit down. “My lady, I—” “Countess,” she said sharply.2010 November 1, Elizabeth Chadwick, Elizabeth Chadwick Bundle: The Greatest Knight, The Scarlet Lion, and For the King's Favor, Sourcebooks, Inc., →ISBN

gesture meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

gesture in Hindi

motion of the limbs or body: इशारा iśārā, संकेत saṅket

gesture in Tamil

முகபாவம், உடலசைவு, சைகை, அறிகுறி, சமிக்ஞை, அபிநயம்

gesture in Marathi

हावभाव

gesture in Urdu

motion of the limbs or body: اِشارَہ iśāra

More languagesFewer languages

gesture in Bengali: ইশারা iśara, সংকেত śoṅket
gesture in Telugu: ఆంగికము āṅgikamu
gesture in Malayalam: ആംഗ്യം, അംഗവിക്ഷേപം, ശരീരത്തിന്റെയോ ശരീരഭാഗങ്ങളുടേയോ വിക്ഷേപം, ഔപചാരികമായി ചെയ്യുന്ന ഒരു പ്രവർത്തി
gesture in Kannada: ಇಶಾರೆ iśāre, ಚೇಷ್ಟೆ cēṣṭe
gesture in Gujarati: ઇશારો iśāro
gesture in Odia: ଅଙ୍ଗଭଙ୍ଗୀ, ଅଙ୍ଗଭଙ୍ଗି
gesture in Sanskrit: चेष्टा ceṣṭā
gesture in Pashto: اشاره išāra
gesture in Arabic: لَفْتَة lafta, إِشَارَة ʔišāra
gesture in Thai: ท่าทาง tâa-taang
gesture in Vietnamese: cử chỉ, bộ tịch
gesture in Myanmar: အမူအရာ a.mua.ra

Examples of gesture in a sentence

Hand gestures are also essential to Belter communication, as they evolved from the days of wearing space suits with poor comms during the early settler days.2016 January 15, Bryan Enk, “Belter Creole 101”, in SYFY:
Lorna gestured him to wait and handed the digital camera back to her. […] The guard gestured her to follow him.2021 May 1, Bruce Allsman, The Museum Curator, Bruce Yeoh:

All 40 example sentences with gesture

Synonyms of gesture

gesticulate

Forms of gesture

Noun
plural	gestures
Verb
third-person singular present	gestures
present participle	gesturing
past participle	gestured
past	gestured

Past tense of gesture: gestured

Plural of gesture: gestures

Origin of gesture

From Medieval Latin gestūra (“a mode of action”), from Latin gerō (“to bear; (reflexive) bear oneself, behave, act”), past participle gestus. By surface analysis, Latin gest- + -ure.

Questions about gesture

What does gesture mean?: Gesture means a motion of the limbs or body, especially one made to emphasize speech.
What is gesture in Hindi?: Gesture in Hindi is इशारा (iśārā), संकेत (saṅket). See Gesture meaning in Hindi.
How do you use gesture in a sentence?: Hand gestures are also essential to Belter communication, as they evolved from the days of wearing space suits with poor comms during the early settler days.
What part of speech is gesture?: Gesture can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce gesture?: Gesture is pronounced /ˈd͡ʒɛs.t͡ʃə/ (UK).
What is the plural of gesture?: The plural of gesture is gestures.

Words near gesture in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: gesture (page history and authors); gesture (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); gesture (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); gesture (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ಇಶಾರೆ (Kannada) (page history and authors); ઇશારો (Gujarati) (page history and authors); gesture (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); चेष्टा (Sanskrit) (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: en-us-gesture.ogg.

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