What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Gesticulate vs Articulate - What's the difference?

gesticulate | articulate |

As verbs the difference between gesticulate and articulate

is that gesticulate is to make gestures or motions, as in speaking; to use postures while articulate is to make clear or effective.

As an adjective articulate is

clear, effective.

As a noun articulate is

an animal of the subkingdom Articulata.

gesticulate

English

Verb

(gesticulat)
  • To make gestures or motions, as in speaking; to use postures.
  • To say or express through gestures.
  • * "...the TV programme Friends is influencing not only the way Irish people speak but also how they gesticulate . Now almost every utterance is accompanied by arms outstretched and palms turned upwards." Irish Times , December 6, 2004
  • articulate

    English

    (Articulation)

    Etymology 1

    .

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • clear, effective
  • especially, speaking in a clear or effective manner
  • able to bend or hinge at certain points or intervals
  • Expressed in articles or in separate items or particulars.
  • (Francis Bacon)
  • Related to human speech, as distinct from the vocalisation of animals.
  • * 1728 , James Knapton and John Knapton, Cyclopaedia, or an Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences , page 146:
  • Brutes cannot form articulate'' Sounds, cannot ''articulate the Sounds of the Voice, excepting some few Birds, as the Parrot, Pye, &c.
    Synonyms
    * (good at speaking) eloquent, well-spoken

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (label) An animal of the subkingdom Articulata.
  • Etymology 2

    From the adjective.

    Verb

    (articulat)
  • To make clear or effective.
  • To speak clearly; to enunciate.
  • I wish he’d articulate his words more clearly.
  • To explain; to put into words; to make something specific.
  • I like this painting, but I can’t articulate why.
  • To bend or hinge something at intervals, or to allow or build something so that it can bend.
  • an articulated bus
  • (music) to attack a note, as by tonguing, slurring, bowing, etc.
  • Articulate that passage heavily.
  • (anatomy) to form a joint or connect by joints
  • The lower jaw articulates with the skull at the temporomandibular joint.
  • (obsolete) To treat or make terms.
  • (Shakespeare)
    Derived terms
    *