gesticulating

present participle of gesticulate
as in gesturing
to move your arms and hands especially when speaking in an angry or emotional way He was gesticulating wildly during his speech.

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of gesticulating Instead of ripping off his shirt, or wildly gesticulating, McTominay ran to the edge of the pitch with his hands facing down and his lips pursed. — Ed Caesar, New Yorker, 16 June 2026 Imagery was multiplied to tell a story—the stentorian Mussolini, with his upraised chin and bald head, delivering a speech, or Hitler, with his toothbrush mustache, gesticulating. — Literary Hub, 27 Apr. 2026 Video footage of the incident obtained by KQED appears to show the women gesticulating and shouting at the correctional staff before the officers form a line and deploy pepper spray and mace grenades at the group. — William Melhado, Sacbee.com, 24 Apr. 2026 The video, without sound, shows the three of them gesticulating at each other before the 13-year-old in red pants appears to charge David and stab him. — Julia Prodis Sulek, Mercury News, 17 Mar. 2026 In preschool, he was given a wordless role as Farmer McGregor in a school production of Peter Rabbit and began hamming it up, counting the missing tomatoes and gesticulating at his nemesis rabbit. — Kathryn Vanarendonk, Vulture, 26 Feb. 2026 Their remaining team-mates applauded the away enclosure, but many in that section were gesticulating their disdain. — Roshane Thomas, New York Times, 25 Oct. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for gesticulating
Verb
  • But jumping off the field throughout the game was enforcing linebacker Dre Greenlaw, who led the team with 12 tackles against his former club, gesturing and yelling at their sidelines throughout.
    — Chris Biderman, Sacbee.com, 4 Oct. 2026
  • And there, Guadagnino says, gesturing to a section covered by a red tarp, is where his team built the men’s bathrooms where some computer scientists have a pissing contest.
    — E. Alex Jung, Vulture, 2 Oct. 2026
Verb
  • The stranger approached the store owner, a stout man waving a rattan fan lazily at his face while sitting at the till.
    — Rachel Heng, New Yorker, 4 Oct. 2026
  • Fortunately, her dad is used to making saves in front of 42,843 towel-waving fans.
    — Tyler Kepner, New York Times, 4 Oct. 2026
Verb
  • Outside, Terremoto approached the garden with a similar balance of continuity and reinvention, nodding to the home’s midcentury origins without slipping into pastiche.
    — Kristen Flanagan, Architectural Digest, 6 Oct. 2026
  • Oh, yes, sure,’ said Stanton, nodding out, still thinking about music.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 6 Oct. 2026

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Cite this Entry

“Gesticulating.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/gesticulating. Accessed 7 Oct. 2026.

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