exclamation Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun an abrupt excited utterance
    exclaiming.
    • she gave an exclamation of delight
    • there was much exclaiming over it
  2. noun a loud complaint or protest or reproach
  3. noun an exclamatory rhetorical device
    ecphonesis.
    • O tempore! O mores

WordNet

Ex`cla*ma"tion noun
Etymology
L. exclamatio: cf. F. exclamation.
Definitions
  1. A loud calling or crying out; outcry; loud or emphatic utterance; vehement vociferation; clamor; that which is cried out, as an expression of feeling; sudden expression of sound or words indicative of emotion, as in surprise, pain, grief, joy, anger, etc.
    Exclamations against abuses in the church. Hooker.
    Thus will I drown your exclamations. Shak.
    A festive exclamation not unsuited to the occasion. Trench.
  2. (Rhet.) A word expressing outcry; an interjection; a word expressing passion, as wonder, fear, or grief.
  3. (Print.) A mark or sign by which outcry or emphatic utterance is marked; thus [!]; -- called also exclamation point.

Webster 1913