tired and emotional
- adjective
- /ˈtaɪəd ənd ɪˈməʊʃənl/
- Literature
:
cansado y emocional
- Reporters used the phrase tired and emotional to avoid explicitly saying the politician was intoxicated.
Examples
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The tabloid described the celebrity as tired and emotional after leaving the party late.
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At the hearing, witnesses said he seemed tired and emotional, implying he had been drinking earlier.
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She feels tired and emotional.
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He is tired and emotional after the party.
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After a few too many drinks at the wedding, he was described as tired and emotional by his friends.
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The actor, tired and emotional from the long shoot, gave a heartfelt speech during the awards ceremony.
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When she arrived at the meeting, looking tired and emotional, it was clear she had been celebrating the night before.
Synonyms
56
3.0
Feeling a very strong emotion that makes you excited or unable to think clearly
8
6.5
To be very drunk after drinking too much alcohol
1
9.1
Very tired, asleep, or feeling the effect of alcohol
1
8.4
Very drunk from drinking alcohol
Very drunk or extremely tired
Antonyms
How Drunk
Surface Forms
Morphology
The literal meaning (‘feeling fatigued and prone to strong feelings’) is transparently derived from the constituents 'tired' + 'emotional', so a B1 learner would understand that literal sense. However, the euphemistic British meaning 'intoxicated' is a culturally specific, non-literal extension that is not directly predictable from the words alone, requiring prior exposure to the idiomatic use.
Etymology
Tired and emotional became a polite phrase in British news to hint that someone had been drinking; journalists used the words tired and emotional as a safe code. One popular story says they did this to avoid the word 'drunk', so the phrase now often implies intoxication.