welter of emotions
1
7.8
- noun
- As he watched the final scene of the movie, a welter of emotions filled him, making him both happy and sad.
Examples
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Pota and Braddon watched their daughter with frozen faces, faces that Tia was convinced covered a complete welter of emotions that they didn't want her to see.
Fiction book (1992) -
After hearing the news, she was overwhelmed by a welter of emotions that made it hard to think clearly.
-
The wedding ceremony brought a welter of emotions as family and friends celebrated love and unity.
Synonyms
3
9.1
A large confusing mass of things and feelings
2
3.6
A sudden strong feeling that is hard to control
1
8.2
A state of being completely overwhelmed by strong feelings or stress
1
6.0
A sudden very strong feeling that you cannot control
1
9.1
A strong, confusing mix of very different feelings inside a person
1
5.0
A sudden short time when many strong feelings happen at once
Antonyms
How Confused
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a confused or disorderly mass of feelings' is directly derivable from combining 'welter' (a jumble or confused mass) with 'of emotions' — a standard 'X of Y' nominal composition that signals a mass/collection of Y. Although 'welter' is relatively low-frequency, the semantic relation is compositional and predictable for a learner who knows the constituent words.
Etymology
Welter of emotions uses the word welter, which pictures a messy, rolling mass, and emotions, our feelings. Imagine feelings like waves all mixed up and pushing each other, so it means 'a confused or mixed set of feelings'.