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emotional

/ɪˈmoʊʃənəl/

/ɛˈməʊʃənəl/

If it has anything to do with feelings like happiness or anger, then consider it emotional. A co-worker who cries at the drop of a hat is overly emotional.

If someone says "Stop being so emotional!" they're telling you to calm down because your feelings are out of control. When you're emotional, you're feeling lots of feelings, or emotions: happy, sad, afraid, lonely, mad. An emotional speech makes you stand up and cheer. An emotional movie tugs on your heartstrings. The opposite of emotional is logical: logical things have more to do with your head, while emotional things are all about your heart.

Definitions of emotional
  1. adjective
    of or pertaining to emotion
    emotional health”
    “an emotional crisis”
  2. adjective
    of more than usual emotion
    “his behavior was highly emotional
    Synonyms:
    affectional, affective, emotive
    characterized by emotion
    bathetic, drippy, hokey, kitschy, maudlin, mawkish, mushy, sappy, schmaltzy, schmalzy, sentimental, slushy, soppy, soupy
    effusively or insincerely emotional
    cathartic, releasing
    emotionally purging (of e.g. art)
    charged, supercharged
    fraught with great emotion
    funky, low-down
    (of jazz) having the soulful feeling of early blues
    het up
    worked up emotionally by anger or excitement
    hot-blooded
    prone to emotion
    little
    small in a way that arouses feelings (of tenderness or its opposite depending on the context)
    lyric, lyrical
    expressing deep emotion
    mind-blowing
    intensely affecting the mind or emotions
    moody, temperamental
    subject to sharply varying moods
    overemotional, sloppy
    excessively or abnormally emotional
    soulful
    full of or expressing deep emotion
    warm-toned
    used of music
    affected, moved, stirred, touched
    being excited or provoked to the expression of an emotion
    moving
    arousing or capable of arousing deep emotion
    passionate
    having or expressing strong emotions
    warm
    psychologically warm; friendly and responsive
    see moresee less
    Antonyms:
    unemotional
    unsusceptible to or destitute of or showing no emotion
    chilly
    not characterized by emotion
    dry
    lacking warmth or emotional involvement
    impassive, stolid
    having or revealing little emotion or sensibility; not easily aroused or excited
    philosophic, philosophical
    characterized by the attitude of a philosopher; meeting trouble with level-headed detachment
    phlegmatic, phlegmatical
    showing little emotion
    stoic, stoical
    seeming unaffected by pleasure or pain; impassive
    unblinking
    showing no visible emotion
    unaffected, unmoved, untouched
    emotionally unmoved
    unmoving
    not arousing emotions
    passionless
    not passionate
    cool
    psychologically cool and unenthusiastic; unfriendly or unresponsive or showing dislike
    show more antonyms...
  3. adjective
    (of persons) excessively affected by emotion
    “he would become emotional over nothing at all”
    synonyms: aroused, excited, worked up
    agitated
    troubled emotionally and usually deeply
  4. adjective
    determined or actuated by emotion rather than reason
    “it was an emotional judgment”
    see moresee less
    Antonyms:
    cerebral, intellectual
    involving intelligence rather than emotions or instinct
Pronunciation
US

/ɪˈmoʊʃənəl/

UK

/ɛˈməʊʃənəl/

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DISCLAIMER: These example sentences appear in various news sources and books to reflect the usage of the word ‘emotional'. Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Vocabulary.com or its editors. Send us feedback
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