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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

gesture.

A motion of the limbs or body, especially one made to emphasize speech.

7 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈd͡ʒɛs.t͡ʃə/UK/ˈd͡ʒɛs.t͡ʃɚ/General-American/ˈd͡ʒɛs.t͡ʃɝ/General-American
  1. A motion of the limbs or body, especially one made to emphasize speech.

    countable · uncountable
    The middle-finger gesture is really a nonverbal swear.
  2. An act or a remark that serves as a formality or as a sign of attitude.

    countable · uncountable
    We took flowers as a gesture of sympathy.
  3. A motion made with a pointing device, or on a touchscreen, that is recognised by the system as a command.

    countable · uncountable
    This Web browser can be controlled with mouse gestures.
  4. The manner of carrying the body; position of the body or limbs; posture.

    countable · obsolete · uncountable
Where this word comes from

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.

verb/ˈd͡ʒɛs.t͡ʃə/UK/ˈd͡ʒɛs.t͡ʃɚ/General-American/ˈd͡ʒɛs.t͡ʃɝ/General-American
  1. To make a gesture or gestures.

    intransitive
    My dad told me never to gesture with my hands when I talk.
    Never gesture at someone using your middle finger: it may be perceived as an insult.
  2. To express (something) by a gesture or gestures.

    transitive
    He gestured his disgust.
  3. To accompany or illustrate with gesture or action.

    transitive
  4. To express or signal (to someone) by a gesture or gestures (to do something, go somewhere, etc).

    transitive
Where this word comes from

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.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.