to make the angels weep
- idiom
- Literature
:
hacer llorar a los ángeles
- Her voice can make the angels weep.
Examples
-
That painting is so beautiful it could make the angels weep!
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Her tragic story could make the angels weep with sorrow.
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The beauty of the sunrise was enough to make the angels weep.
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The sorrow in his voice would make the angels weep.
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Her tragic story could make the angels weep with sorrow.
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The beauty of the sunrise was enough to make the angels weep.
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The sorrow in his voice would make the angels weep.
Synonyms
131
3.7
To make someone feel a strong emotion
14
3.5
Cry a little, often with one tear
5
4.3
Feeling strong emotion that makes you cry
3
6.5
To feel a little sad and have tears in your eyes because of memories
3
3.7
Make someone feel strong emotion or sympathy
1
4.6
To make someone cry because of a strong feeling like sadness or joy
1
9.9
Cause great sadness or disappointment, often as a joke
Make people feel deep sadness or pity
Antonyms
How Moving
Surface Forms
Morphology
The components 'make' (cause) + 'angel' (supernatural being) + 'weep' (to cry) transparently combine to the literal idea of causing angels to cry, so a learner can infer that it means to cause very strong emotion. However, the expression is a metaphorical hyperbole invoking a cultural trope (angels as idealized beings), so the precise nuance (whether sorrow or exquisite beauty) is not fully predictable without exposure. For these reasons it is partially but not completely compositional for a B1 learner.
Etymology
Make the angels weep may come from a simple picture: imagine angels so moved by beauty or sorrow that they begin to weep. So, it means 'to cause very strong feeling, often deep sadness or wonder'.