Emote is an example of what linguists call a back-formation - that is, a word formed by trimming down an existing word (in this case, "emotion"). From the time "emote" was coined in the early 20th century, its use has tended to be less than entirely serious. It most often appears in humorous or deprecating descriptions of the work of actors. It is similarly used to describe theatrical behavior by nonactors, as in this passage by David Fontana, published in The New Republic on March 11, 2012: "We might not want our president to emote about economics or war; but why shouldn't a fan, or for that matter a sports announcer, emote about athletics, which is not after all a matter of world historical importance?"
Examples of emote in a Sentence
He stood on the stage, emoting and gesturing wildly.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'emote.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.