: 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 The Miami Heat forward went viral in October after debuting an ‘emo’ look at Media Day. Trisha Garcia-Easto, Sacramento Bee, 29 Feb. 2024 Beloved and influential acts such as the Dismemberment Plan and Cap’n Jazz are reuniting for the inaugural Best Friends Forever festival, which has rounded up a massive lineup of emo, hardcore and ’90s/00’s-era artists for its Oct. 10-13 debut at the Downtown Las Vegas Events Center. Spin Staff, SPIN, 27 Feb. 2024 Like with most characters on South Park, this group of angsty kids plays on easy stereotypes, but seriously, don't confuse them with the emo kids (or the vampire kids, for that matter). Kevin Jacobsen, EW.com, 21 Feb. 2024 But over the decades to come, the 10-track LP would end up shaping successive generations of emo and pop-punk acts on its way to triple-platinum certification and a spot on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. Mikael Wood, Los Angeles Times, 25 Mar. 2024 Hot Chip at 9:30 Club Music fans of a certain age have looked on with wry smiles as Gen Z and millennials have rediscovered emo, mallcore and nu-metal. Chris Kelly, Washington Post, 21 Mar. 2024 Formed in 1995, Kansas City natives the Get Up Kids are widely considered the forefathers of modern emo, with bands such as My Chemical Romance Fall Out Boy, Taking Back Sunday counting them as a key influence. Spin Staff, SPIN, 15 Feb. 2024 But after Francesca dumped Dom for her Love Is Blind paramour, Damian, Georgia saw her opening for The Mole’s resident emo boy, and the two remained together for the rest of the series and even won the show. Charlotte Walsh, Vulture, 14 Mar. 2024 Critics lauded it as one of her best songs ever, citing its gradual crescendo from a soft pop song to an all-out emo rock song by the end. Rebecca Aizin, Peoplemag, 10 Mar. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'emo.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

short for emotional

First Known Use

1988, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of emo was in 1988

Dictionary Entries Near emo

Cite this Entry

“Emo.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/emo. Accessed 19 Apr. 2024.

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