emo

noun

ˈē-(ˌ)mō 

: a style of rock music influenced by punk rock and featuring introspective and emotionally fraught lyrics

In emo, the heart forever hurts, and the ultra-introspective songwriter pines for beautiful death.

—Robert Sullivan

emo adjective

The film is sensitively directed, full of emo songs and quiet little character moments.

—Kyle Smith

Examples of emo in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

That’s all thanks to Fever’s status as both a capsule of early aughts emo and a road map for the pop-leaning explosion that would go on to include artists like Gym Class Heroes and Cobra Starship. —Maya Georgi, Rolling Stone, 27 Sep. 2025

Foxing spent the next couple of years on the road, landing opening slots for fellow emo favorites like the Hotelier and Modern Baseball. —Walden Green, Pitchfork, 23 Sep. 2025

They were not done bringing us into pure emo mode. —Chris Willman, Variety, 20 Sep. 2025

When the Goo Goo Dolls, with opener Dashboard Confessional, played Berkeley’s Greek Theatre in September, the emo band’s frontman Chris Carrabba remarked on all the teenagers who were rocking vintage band tees in the crowd. —Preston Fore, Fortune, 11 Sep. 2025

Word History

Etymology

short for emotional

First Known Use

1988, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for emo

• acknow
• aglow
• ago
• airglow
• aloe
• altho
• although
• ammo
• backflow
• backhoe
• banjo
• barbeau