Library / English Dictionary

GESTICULATE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Show, express or direct through movement

Example:

He gestured his desire to leave

Synonyms:

gesticulate; gesture; motion

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "gesticulate" is one way to...):

communicate; intercommunicate (transmit thoughts or feelings)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "gesticulate"):

wink (signal by winking)

exsert; extend; hold out; put out; stretch forth; stretch out (thrust or extend out)

shrug (raise one's shoulders to indicate indifference or resignation)

clap; spat (clap one's hands together)

acclaim; applaud; clap; spat (clap one's hands or shout after performances to indicate approval)

bless; sign (make the sign of the cross over someone in order to call on God for protection; consecrate)

nod (express or signify by nodding)

cross oneself (make the sign of the cross; in the Catholic religion)

bow; bow down (bend one's knee or body, or lower one's head)

shake (shake (a body part) to communicate a greeting, feeling, or cognitive state)

beckon; wave (signal with the hands or nod)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s to somebody

Derivation:

gesticulation (a deliberate and vigorous gesture or motion)

gesture (motion of hands or body to emphasize or help to express a thought or feeling)

gesture (the use of movements (especially of the hands) to communicate familiar or prearranged signals)

Credits

 Context examples: 

They shout and gesticulate tremendously but cannot agree, and Rodrigo is about to bear away the exhausted Zara, when the timid servant enters with a letter and a bag from Hagar, who has mysteriously disappeared.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Amid the knot of noisy and gesticulating townsfolk, many small parties of mounted knights and squires threaded their way towards the prince's quarters, where the huge iron-clamped doors were thrown back to show that he held audience within.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)