emotionless

IPA/ɪˈməʊʃənləs/
IPA/ɪˈməʊʃənləs/

emotionless — adjective

  • emotionlesspositive
  • more emotionlesscomparative
  • most emotionlesssuperlative

1. showing no clear feeling in your face, voice, or behaviour, especially when othe

1.adjectiveC1
Definition

showing no clear feeling in your face, voice, or behaviour, especially when other people would expect some reaction.

Example

During the interview, Elena kept an emotionless face while hearing the bad news.

emotionless face in a moment that normally shows feeling

The actor delivered the final line in an emotionless voice that chilled the room.

emotionless voice = flat outward delivery

Common collocations
  • emotionless face
  • emotionless voice
  • emotionless stare
  • stay emotionless
Synonyms
  • expressionless

    focuses more narrowly on a face that shows nothing

  • impassive

    more formal and often suggests strong self-control

  • unemotional

    broader and can also describe fact-based behavior or decisions

  • blank

    often emphasizes an empty look and can also suggest confusion

Antonyms
  • emotional

    showing strong feelings openly

  • expressive

    clearly showing feelings in the face or voice

  • animated

    full of lively feeling or visible energy

Grammar Patterns

an emotionless face/voice/stare

look/sound/stay + emotionless

Usage Note

Most often describes visible outward behaviour, especially a face, voice, stare, reply, or expression. Depending on the situation, it can suggest self-control, shock, or a cold distance rather than proving that the person feels nothing inside.

Common Mistakes

The room was emotionless after the joke.
The room was silent after the joke.
'Emotionless' usually describes people, faces, voices, or behavior, not a whole place.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: adjective/1

These words all describe someone who does not show much feeling, but they point to different things. Emotionless is the broadest for outward appearance: a face, voice, or reply that shows no visible emotion. Expressionless is narrower and is used mainly for faces or eyes. Impassive is more formal and often suggests a person is keeping control on purpose, even in a tense situation. Unemotional can overlap with emotionless for a person's manner, but it is broader and also describes decisions or thinking based on facts instead of feelings. A witness may sound emotionless, a photograph may show an expressionless face, a judge may stay impassive, and a manager may make an unemotional decision.

emotionless ↗expressionless ↗impassive ↗unemotional ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

Adverbs

Phrases

  • an emotionless face
  • in an emotionless voice
  • stay emotionless

Etymology

LatinFrenchEnglish

Built in English from the noun 'emotion' and the suffix '-less', meaning 'without'. 'Emotion' came into English through French from Latin roots connected with stirring or moving feelings, so 'emotionless' literally means 'without emotion' and is used for a face, voice, or manner that shows none outwardly.