Dictionaries › English

gesture

Pronunciation: /ˈd͡ʒɛs.t͡ʃə/

The English word “gesture” has 8 meanings listed here.

noun

  1. A motion of the limbs or body, especially one made to emphasize speech.
  2. An act or a remark that serves as a formality or as a sign of attitude.
  3. A motion made with a pointing device, or on a touchscreen, that is recognised by the system as a command.
  4. The manner of carrying the body; position of the body or limbs; posture.

verb

  1. To make a gesture or gestures.
  2. To express (something) by a gesture or gestures.
  3. To accompany or illustrate with gesture or action.
  4. To express or signal (to someone) by a gesture or gestures (to do something, go somewhere, etc).

Etymology

From Medieval Latin gestūra (“a mode of action”), from Latin gerō (“to bear; (reflexive) bear oneself, behave, act”), past participle gestus. By surface analysis, Latin gest- + -ure.

Keep exploring: in the interactive dictionary every word of a definition is a link. Open “gesture” there

More English words

About this dictionary

The English dictionary on Glottosphere has 650,529 entries with a page. Browse the English dictionary.

Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.