Exclamation

How to spell exclamation

11 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce exclamation

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does exclamation mean?

1. nounA sudden, forceful cry or remark expressing strong emotion such as surprise, pain, or delight.

Exclamation in a sentence

• A sharp exclamation escaped her when the hot pan touched her hand.

• His exclamation of delight echoed across the room when he opened the gift.

Where does exclamation come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word descends from the Latin verb exclamare, which combined ex, meaning 'out', with clamare, meaning 'to cry out' or 'to shout loudly'. The literal sense was therefore 'to shout something out', and the related noun exclamatio described a sudden, forceful utterance. English took the word in the late 1300s and 1400s by way of Old French exclamation, keeping both the spelling and the idea of a sound bursting out. The same clamare root quietly powers a whole family of English words, including 'claim', 'proclaim', 'clamour', and 'declaim', all of which carry a hint of shouting or calling. For spelling, it helps to remember the loud little ex- at the front and the steady -ation ending, since the unstressed middle vowel is what usually trips writers up.

How the word is built

• ex- (out)
• clam (root of Latin clamare: to cry out, shout)
• -ation (noun-forming suffix)