Word
exclamation
Phoneticsex·cla·ma·tion
US/ˌɛkskɫəˈmeɪʃən/
UK/ɛksklɐmˈeɪʃən/
Definition
n. a short, sudden sound or word that you say to show a strong feeling. It is often used when you are surprised, angry, or excited.
n. a sudden, forceful cry or utterance expressing strong emotion such as surprise, pain, or joy. Often used to describe a short grammatical unit that stands alone without a subject or verb.
Examples
“He let out a loud exclamation of surprise when he saw the gift.”
“The quiet of the library was broken by a sharp exclamation from a student who had just spilled coffee.”
“While the author's early work relied heavily on the dramatic exclamation to convey tension, her later novels achieved the same emotional depth through subtle, understated dialogue.”
Examples
simple
“He let out a loud exclamation of surprise when he saw the gift.”
contextual
“The quiet of the library was broken by a sharp exclamation from a student who had just spilled coffee.”
complex
“While the author's early work relied heavily on the dramatic exclamation to convey tension, her later novels achieved the same emotional depth through subtle, understated dialogue.”
Usage
Often followed by the preposition 'of' to specify the emotion, such as an 'exclamation of delight' or 'exclamation of horror'.
Etymology
Borrowed from Middle French exclamation, from Latin exclāmātiō, from exclāmō (“to cry out”) + -tiō.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.