About The Dictionary of Emotions

Words for What We Feel

Emotions shape how we see, interpret, and experience life. They are the language of our inner world — subtle, powerful, and profoundly human.

Dictionary of Emotions exists to help you recognize, name, and understand that language — to explore feelings, moods, and emotional states with greater awareness and precision.

This online edition expands upon the original book Dictionary of Emotions: Words for Feelings, Moods, and Emotions — transforming it into an evolving digital experience designed for reflection, learning, and connection. Each word is a window into what it means to feel.

The Beginning

The journey began in 1989, during my work as an actor. Acting drew me deeply into the study of emotion — how it moves through voice, body, and story. I wanted a way to map a character's emotional landscape: to assign specific feelings and intensities to each scene and, in doing so, better understand the human experience itself.

A Living Resource for Awareness and Expression

The Dictionary of Emotions serves as a reference and tool to grow your emotional vocabulary, build your emotional intelligence, and deepen your capacity for empathy and expression.

Whether you are a writer, teacher, actor, student, counselor, or simply someone curious about the landscape of feeling, this resource offers language to bring your inner experience into focus.

Here, each definition is part of an expanding digital ecosystem that includes the Weekly Emotion newsletter, Emotion Resources, and future interactive tools to help you explore emotions in new ways — through words, reflections, journaling prompts, and creative exercises.

By naming our emotions, we begin to understand them.

By understanding them, we find connection — within ourselves and with others.

Mission

The mission of this project is to help people everywhere understand, express, and expand their emotional awareness — one word at a time.

Patrick Michael Ryan
Creator, Dictionary of Emotions
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