To express strong feelings or emotions in an exaggerated or theatrical way, often visibly or dramatically.
Back-formation from 'emotion,' created in the early 20th century by removing the suffix '-ion.' Originally considered informal or slang, it became standard English through theater and film terminology.
Actors and musicians use 'emote' constantly, but it's actually a very young word—it wasn't in most dictionaries before the 1920s, showing how theater culture invented new verbs we all use today.
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