gesture at vs gesture to

Both 'gesture at' and 'gesture to' are correct phrases, but they are used in slightly different contexts. 'Gesture at' is used when someone is indicating or pointing towards something or someone, while 'gesture to' is used when someone is making a gesture in the direction of someone or something.

Last updated: March 26, 2024 • 998 views

gesture at

This phrase is correct and commonly used in English.

This phrase is used when someone is indicating or pointing towards something or someone. It implies a more general direction or area.

Examples:

He gestured at the map to show me where we were.
She gestured at the sky to indicate the approaching storm.

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I remember your friendly gesture at the time.
I understand your feelings, but a symbolic gesture at this point would be foolish and unnecessary.
I have not seen any gesture at all from Northern Cyprus of course, nor from Turkey either.
Mr President, Mr Gollnisch has just made an impolite gesture at me.
This is why I am also categorically opposed to the sale of chocolate cigarettes or liquorice pipes: mimicking a gesture at the age of 5 carries a risk of registering it and getting used to it.
I remember your friendly gesture at the time.
Makes rude gestures at people doing their socialist duties.
First they made gestures at me.
Mr President, we have seen many gestures - at Essen, Madrid and Florence - on tackling unemployment and using structural funds for new initiatives on territorial pacts for employment.
A violent gesture, at first it frightened me.
And the score for the piece looks like this, and it instructs me, the performer, to make various hand gestures at very specific times synchronized with an audio tape, and that audio tape is made up exclusively of vocal samples.
You can't keep trying to make everything work out with some big gesture all at once.
Also symptomatic of this are the USA's threatening gestures directed at Baghdad, which are not always credible.
The re-opening of the Somali embassy in Brussels in 2010, thanks to EU support provided through the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS), was an additional important gesture aimed at stepping up EU relations with Somalia.
It may seem silly, but there is something tenuous that joins us all and we can make it better or worse according to how we act. We can save or destroy so much with a simple gesture that at times seems utterly useless.
But... this is the only meaningful gesture I can make at this point.
He believed this gesture, though symbolic at the time, may have contributed, "and with some considerable foresight", to the ultimate success of Latvia's "singing revolution".
Or maybe even the $2 mouse gesture system at that time was costing around $5,000?
Since the military coup in Mauritania the junta has made no gesture hinting at a genuine return to the rule of law, a restoration of democracy and the release of political prisoners, who include the democratically elected president of Mauritania.
Our grand gesture ruined, destroyed, decimated.

Alternatives:

point at
indicate
motion towards

gesture to

This phrase is correct and commonly used in English.

This phrase is used when someone is making a gesture in the direction of someone or something. It implies a more specific target or recipient.