about to cry
8
3.0
- idiom
:
a punto de llorar
- Fannie looked like she was about to cry as Edwina tried to reassure her.
- looks about to cry
- actually about to cry
- about to cry now
Examples
-
Karen, though still very angry, looks like she's about to cry.
Fiction book (1991) -
In his old age, he had become emotional, and now he was so sad he was about to cry.
Fiction book (1994) -
Are you seriously about to cry?
-
Were you about to cry?
-
Are you about to cry?
-
I was about to cry.
-
After a moment, he looks at her, like a little boy about to cry.
Fiction book (1996) -
Daddy looked like he was about to cry now.
Fiction book (1999) -
I can always tell when adults are about to cry.
-
Your friend looks about to cry after hearing the sad news.
Synonyms
26
1.8
Showing you are about to cry because of a strong feeling
21
2.0
Having eyes that look ready to cry
20
3.7
Feeling like you want to cry easily
About to start crying because you feel sad
Antonyms
How Tearful
Surface Forms
Morphology
about + to + cry
The phrase 'about to cry' contains the grammaticalized sequence 'about to' meaning 'on the verge of' plus the verb 'cry'. While the components signal proximity to an action and a B1 learner who knows 'about' and 'cry' may often infer the near-future/near-occurrence sense, the specific idiomaticized usage of 'about to' as a near-future marker is not fully predictable from the literal meanings, so it is only partially transparent.
Etymology
About to cry creates a simple picture: someone's eyes fill with tears and their voice shakes, so they are literally 'about' to cry. That's why it means 'on the verge of tears'.