Interjection and its Usage with Examples

What is Interjection?

An interjection is a part of speech used to express strong emotions or convey short, spontaneous reactions.

 They stand alone, grammatically independent of the rest of the sentence, and often come with an exclamation mark (!).

Interjection Usage

An interjection is a part of speech that is used to express strong emotions or sudden bursts of feelings such as surprise, joy, excitement, pain, or anger. Interjections are usually words or short phrases that are inserted into a sentence to draw attention to the speaker’s emotional state or to explain a particular point.

Interjections are typically punctuated with exclamation marks and are not grammatically connected to the rest of the sentence. They can occur at the beginning, middle, or end of a sentence and are not essential to the sentence’s meaning.

1.  To express Awe or Amazement

Here are a few Interjection , that are used To express Awe or Amazement:

Interjection	Meaning
Wow	Expresses astonishment
Oh	Indicates surprise
Ah	Shows wonder or amazement
Whoa	Expresses astonishment or disbelief
Amazing	Expresses admiration or wonder
Incredible	Indicates disbelief or awe
Astonishing	Shows surprise or amazement
Unbelievable	Expresses disbelief or awe
Astounding	Indicates great surprise or wonder
Mind-blowing	Expresses extreme amazement

Usage

• Wow! This painting is incredible.
• Oh my God! Look at that sunset.
• Amazing! You can speak five languages?
• Incredible! How did you do that magic trick?
• Unbelievable! That athlete just broke a world record.
• “Wow! That sunset is stunning.
• No way! That building is the tallest one in the city?
• Holy cow! That concert was the best one I’ve ever attended.
• Astonishing! I never knew that fact before.
• Remarkable! You’ve managed to save enough money to buy a house?

2.  To express Frustration

Here are a few Interjection , that are used  To express Frustration:

Interjection	Meaning
Argh	Frustration or annoyance
Ugh	Exasperation
Gah	Irritation
Darn	Mild frustration
Blast	Strong frustration
Drat	Disappointment
Rats	Displeasure
Bother	Annoyance
Curses	Frustration or anger
Shoot	Exasperation

Usage

• Ugh! I can’t believe I lost my keys again.
• Argh! My computer crashed and I lost all my work.
• Shoot! I missed the bus and now I’m late.
• Darn it! I forgot my wallet at home.
• Oh come on! Why won’t this printer work?
• Seriously?! I have to work overtime again?
• Agh! I’m so sick of this traffic jam.
• Geez! Why is this so difficult to understand?
• Drat! I spilled coffee on my shirt.
• Oh man! I missed the last train home.

3.  To Express Embarrassment

Here are a few Interjection , that are used To Express Embarrassment:

Interjection	Meaning
Oops	Acknowledging a mistake
Oopsie	A more playful “oops”
Oh dear	Expressing concern or regret
Uh-oh	Recognizing a problem
Eep	Sudden realization of error
Ahem	Drawing attention to mistake
D’oh	Frustration at a mistake
Facepalm	Physical gesture of embarrassment
Gulp	Nervous reaction to a mistake

Usage

• Oops! I didn’t mean to say that out loud.
• Oh my gosh! I can’t believe I just tripped in front of everyone.
• Eek! I accidentally sent the wrong email to my boss.
• Uh oh! I forgot to wear pants to the meeting.
• Yikes! I just realized my fly was open this whole time.
• Oh no! I just farted in class.
• Oy vey! I can’t believe I forgot her name.
• Oh dear! I spilled red wine on my white shirt.
• Whoopsie! I accidentally hit “reply all” to a sensitive email.
• Whoops! I spilled coffee on my shirt.

4.  To grab Attention and indicate Importance

Here are a few Interjection , that are used To grab Attention and indicate Importance:

Interjection	Meaning
Hey	Getting attention or calling out
Listen	Urging someone to pay attention
Look	Drawing attention to something
Attention	Directing focus to something
Psst	Secretive attention-getting sound
Excuse me	Polite way to get attention
Ahem	Clearing throat to get attention
Watch out	Warning of danger or importance
Heads up	Alerting someone to pay attention

Usage

• Hey! Listen up, everyone!
• Psst! I have something confidential to tell you.
• Attention! This is really important.
• Excuse me! Can I have your attention for a moment?
• Listen! This is relevant to all of us.
• Heads up! You don’t want to miss this.
• Look! This is something you need to see.
• Watch out! There’s something you need to be aware of.
• Just a minute! I have something critical to share.
• Stop! This is something that can’t wait.

5.    To Express joy or excitement

Here are a few Interjection , that are used To Express joy or excitement:

Interjection	Meaning
Wow	Amazement or excitement
Yay	Celebration or happiness
Hurray	Cheer or excitement
Woo-hoo	Exuberant excitement
Whee	Childlike delight or excitement
Awesome	Awe and admiration
Yeah	Agreement or enthusiasm
Yippee	Joyful exclamation
Bravo	Applause or admiration
Fantastic	Great excitement or enthusiasm

Usage

• Yay! We’re going to Disneyland!
• Woo-hoo! I got the job!
• Awesome! I just won the lottery.
• Yes! I passed my driving test.
• Hooray! We scored the winning goal.
• Exciting! We’re going on a cruise this summer.
• Oh my gosh! I can’t believe I got VIP tickets to the concert.
• Amazing! I got accepted into my top-choice college.
• Fantastic! I just found out I’m getting a promotion.
• Yahoo! Our team just won the championship.

6.    To express an Agreement

Here are a few Interjection , that are used To express an Agreement:

Interjection	Meaning
Yes	Agreement or affirmation
Yeah	Informal agreement
Yup	Informal agreement
Uh-huh	Casual agreement
Absolutely	Strong agreement
Definitely	Strong agreement
Indeed	Formal agreement
Affirmative	Formal agreement
Sure	Agreement with confidence
Agreed	Confirmation of agreement

Examples

• Yeah! Let’s go to the beach this weekend.
• Absolutely! That’s a great idea.
• Right on! I totally agree with you.
• For sure! Let’s get pizza for dinner tonight.
• I agree! That movie was amazing.
• Precisely! That’s exactly what I was thinking.
• You bet! I’m definitely up for some ice cream.
• “Yeah! Let’s go to the beach.”
• Amen! I couldn’t have said it better myself.
• “Hurray! We won the game.”

7.    Expressing Sadness

Here are a few Interjection , that are used Expressing Sadness:

Interjection	Meaning
Alas	Sorrow or regret
Oh no	Disappointment or distress
Ahh	Sigh of sadness
Sigh	Expression of resignation
Boo hoo	Mock crying or self-pity
Tsk	Disapproval or disappointment
Woe	Deep sadness or grief
Sobs	Audible crying
Poor thing	Sympathy or empathy
How sad	Acknowledgment of sadness

Usage

• Oh no! My heart goes out to you.
• Alas! It’s such a tragedy.
• Oh dear! I’m so sorry to hear that.
• Poor thing! That must be so hard.
• Oh, man! What a bummer.

8.    To express shock or Surprise

Here are a few Interjection , that are used To express shock or Surprise:

Interjection	Meaning
Wow	Amazement or astonishment
Oh my	Expresses disbelief or surprise
Whoa	Sudden surprise or astonishment
Gee whiz	Expresses astonishment or wonder
Holy cow	Expresses intense surprise
Good grief	Expresses astonishment or dismay
Oh no	Expresses sudden concern or shock
Well, I’ll be	Indicates surprise or disbelief
Jeepers	Mild expression of surprise
Goodness me	Mild surprise or astonishment

Usage

• Oh my goodness! Is that really you?
• Holy cow! Did you win the lottery?
• Shut up! That’s the craziest thing I’ve ever heard.
• No way! You actually passed your driving test?
• Get out of here! This can’t be real.
• Oh wow! This is a total surprise.
• Holy moly! I can’t believe my eyes.
• Good heavens! How did you manage to do that?
• Holy smokes! Did you see what just happened?
• Well, I’ll be darned! This completely caught me off guard.

9.    To express Disgust

Here are a few Interjection , that are used To express Disgust:

Interjection	Meaning
Eww	Disgust or revulsion
Yuck	Disgust or distaste
Bleh	Disgust or disdain
Gross	Disgust or repulsion
Ugh	Disgust or aversion
Blargh	Strong disgust
Gag	Physical reaction to disgust
Puke	Extreme disgust or nausea
Barf	Extreme disgust or revulsion

Usage

• Ew! That smells terrible.
• Gross! Did you see what that guy just did?
• Blech! I can’t stand the taste of that.
• Yuck! This food is absolutely revolting.
• Ugh! This place is filthy.
• Disgusting! How could someone do that?
• That’s sickening! I feel nauseous just thinking about it.
• Nasty! I’m not touching that with a ten-foot pole.
• Revolting! This makes me want to vomit.
• How repulsive! I can’t believe I even had to witness that.

10. To express pain

Here are some interjections that are used to express pain:

Interjection	Meaning
Ouch	Expression of pain
Ow	Sharp pain
Eek	Surprise and pain
Ugh	Discomfort or pain
Ahh	Relief or distress
Yeow	Sharp pain
Ay	Sudden pain
Yikes	Surprise and pain
Gah	Frustration and pain

Usage

• Ow! That really hurts!
• Ouch! Be careful, please!
• Ahh! Stop, stop, it’s too painful!
• Ugh! This pain is unbearable.
• Eek! It hurts so much, I can’t move.

Common Interjection

Function	Examples
Positive emotions	Ah, bravo, cheers, cool, fantastic, hooray, lovely, oh yeah, sweet, wonderful, yay
Negative emotions	Alas, bummer, damn, darn, ew, heck, oh no, ouch, ugh, yikes
Surprise	Aha, gasp, huh, oh my, oops, snap, uh-oh, whoa
Agreement	Absolutely, certainly, indeed, right on, totally, yup
Disagreement	Absolutely not, definitely not, no way, uh-uh, you’re kidding
Greeting	Hey, hi, hello, howdy, yo
Farewell	Adios, bye, ciao, later, peace out, so long
Attention	Excuse me, hey, listen up, psst, yo
Emphatic pause	Ah, hmm, um, well
Onomatopoeia	Bang, boom, crash, meow, oof, sizzle, thud
Filler	Like, literally, you know, uh