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# gesture

«gesture» in Mova's school dictionary: **A movement of your hand, head or body that shows a…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

noun (a gesture, gestures); verb (gesture, gestures, gestured, gesturing)

### meaning for a pupil

1) A movement of your hand, head or body that shows a meaning, like waving, nodding or pointing. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/G/gesture/#m1)

2) Something you do to show a feeling, especially kindness: «a kind gesture». [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/G/gesture/#m2)

3) (verb) To move your hand or head to show something: «She gestured to the door». [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/G/gesture/#m3)

### sense in the lessons

In lessons on communication: gestures are body language; some gestures (like a thumbs up) mean different things in different countries, so be careful. In stories they tell the reader what a character feels without words. Phrases: «a kind/nice gesture», «a friendly gesture», «hand gestures», «gesture towards/to».

### examples

- She waved goodbye – a friendly gesture. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/G/gesture/#x1)
- Nodding is a gesture that means "yes" in many countries. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/G/gesture/#x2)
- Bringing flowers to the new neighbour was a kind gesture. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/G/gesture/#x3)
- The teacher gestured to us to sit down. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/G/gesture/#x4)
- He made a rude gesture and got into trouble. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/G/gesture/#x5)
- Sign language uses many gestures. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/G/gesture/#x6)
- Some gestures mean something different in other countries. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/G/gesture/#x7)
- With a hasty gesture he tried to hide it, but he was too late. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/G/gesture/#x8)

### note

Countable. Verb: gestured, gesturing (drop e). Spelling: «-ture» like picture. Do not confuse with «jester» (a clown at a royal court).

### In the corpora

- [With a classmate who speaks little English, you speak slowly, use gestures and pictures, and are patient.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/254-classroom-rules-and-homework/11/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «gesture» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/G/gesture/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.