emotional

adjective

emo·​tion·​al i-ˈmō-sh(ə-)nəl 

1

: of or relating to emotion

an emotional disorder

2

: dominated by or prone to emotion

an emotional person

3

: appealing to or arousing emotion

an emotional sermon

4

: markedly aroused or agitated in feeling or sensibilities

gets emotional at weddings

emotionally

i-ˈmō-sh(ə-)nə-lē 

adverb

Synonyms

• passionate
• passional
• warm
• intense
• religious
• fervent
• demonstrative

Examples of emotional in a Sentence

He's a very emotional person.

worship at revival meetings often takes a markedly emotional form

Recent Examples on the Web

At just 17 years old at the time, Irwin delivered a standout season marked by emotional storytelling and technical precision. —Amanda Castro, MSNBC Newsweek, 15 Oct. 2025

Back in August, OpenAI published an update to ChatGPT with stronger controls on the bot’s responses to certain conversational topics amid mounting concern that some users are building harmful emotional attachments to chatbots. —Jack Guy, CNN Money, 15 Oct. 2025

Those weeks in Europe, navigating that emotional minefield together, laid the foundation of our relationship. —Clare Mulroy, USA Today, 15 Oct. 2025

Watch Irwin’s emotional dance on DWTS below. —Gil Kaufman, Billboard, 15 Oct. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1834, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing emotional

• emotional blackmail
• emotional intelligence
• emotional quotient
• hyper-emotional

Rhymes for emotional

• devotional
• promotional
• motional
• notional
• unemotional

Kids Definition

emotional

adjective

emo·​tion·​al i-ˈmō-shnəl 

-shən-ᵊl

1

: of or relating to the emotions

an emotional upset

2

: likely to show or express emotion : easily moved

an emotional person

3

: causing one to feel emotion

an emotional speech

emotionally

-ē 

adverb