student asking question

Does the word "emotional" implies something sad?

teacher

Native speaker’s answer

Rebecca

Kinda! If something is "emotional", one of the emotions could be sadness. In this context, it refers to something "moving", "heart-warming", or "touching", and it does have a bit of a sad tone. If something is "emotional", it could be other emotions too. Like, if you see someone be kind to someone else - that could make you emotional. Or if someone is kind to you, that could make you emotional. Maybe you would feel a lot of gratitude or happiness. "Emotional" can also mean sad! Like if a lot of bad things happened that day, and you don't know how to manage everything, you might end up crying because you're overwhelmed and sad. So it does depend on the context. Ex: I'm feeling really emotional today since my dog died. => Sad Ex: The movie scene made me emotional since it was so heart-warming. Ex: I can't believe you got me a present and wrote me a card! I'm getting emotional now. => Starting to cry due to a good feeling.

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