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Glite Dictionary
moved to tears

moved to tears

5 4.3
Feeling strong emotion that makes you cry
  • idiom
translation icon : conmovido hasta las lágrimas
  • As the final scene of the movie played and the soundtrack swelled, I found myself moved to tears.

I mean, I've stood in front of, I've stood in front of the paintings of all of those artists and been moved to tears.

Examples

  • We hear that a friend has died, and we are moved to tears.

    Academic text (1997)

  • And the tickets were so funny that I was moved to tears.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • I would, you know, be moved to tears by the beauty of a cute dog walking down the street.

  • I mean, I was actually moved to tears.

    Attack of the Sabretooth (2005)

  • Every single person in that room was moved to tears by it.

    Blog text (25)

  • When I walked in there, I was nearly moved to tears.

    Blog text (2)

  • With the rest of the congregation, I was moved to tears.

    Academic text (1996)

  • I have been deeply touched and, in many cases, moved to tears by the experience.

    Blog text (34)

  • Oh dear, I too am moved to tears as I snuggle my infant son, so grateful for his health.

    Blog text (11)

  • Ma's listeners are moved to tears and follow her outside the performance venue.

    Academic text (2017)

Synonyms

in tears
vsmoved to tears
64 2.0

Crying because you feel very sad or touched

focuses on being overcome by feeling rather than only the visible crying
tearful
vsmoved to tears
26 1.8

Showing you are about to cry because of a strong feeling

stresses the emotional overwhelm that leads to crying rather than just teariness
teary-eyed
vsmoved to tears
9 3.2

With eyes full of tears because of strong feeling or something in the eye

highlights being emotionally overcome and brought to actual crying instead
deeply affected
vsmoved to tears
5 4.3

Feeling very sad or moved by something

adds that the emotion overwhelms the person and produces actual crying
reduced to tears
vsmoved to tears
1 4.6

To make someone cry because of a strong feeling like sadness or joy

emphasizes being overwhelmed by feeling as the state that causes crying
moved
vsmoved to tears
3.6

Feeling a strong emotion because something touched your heart

is specifically about being overwhelmed emotionally until one actually cries
touched
vsmoved to tears
3.7

Deeply moved by feelings, often by a kind act or praise

describes a stronger overwhelm that leads to visible crying rather than mild feeling
stirred
vsmoved to tears
3.7

Moved by something touching or exciting

specifies a deeper overwhelm that results in crying rather than mere stirring

Antonyms

unmoved
8 5.1

Not showing strong feelings or any visible reaction

How Moved

moved to tears
5 4.3
moved
3.6
stirred
3.7
touched
3.7

Surface Forms

moved to tears positive

Morphology

move + to + tears

The meaning is directly compositional: 'moved' (emotionally affected) combined with the result phrase 'to tears' (tears = crying) yields 'overcome with emotion and caused to cry.' This resultative construction is common and cross-linguistically regular, so a B1 learner who knows the emotional sense of 'move' and the noun 'tears' would readily infer the meaning.

Etymology

Moved to tears shows a simple picture: someone is so strongly moved inside that real tears come to their eyes. So it means 'to be overcome with emotion' or 'to cry'.