tearful
- adjective
- /ˈtɪrfl/
- The tearful mother hugged her child tightly after being reunited at the airport.
- become tearful
- tearful comedy
- a tearful mother
I feel sick, just so anxious and tearful.
- I feel sick, just so anxious and tearful.
- They may make tearful promises of being a changed man or a changed woman, or to commit every day to being better.
- The soul searching, tearful meltdown post Trump town hall is just the latest example of how far the left of the how far left the network has gone.
Examples
-
She'd promised that, in an almost tearful mid-evening call from her office to his.
Fiction book (1999) -
I'm not really one for tearful goodbyes.
-
It's those tearful press conferences.
-
No one will break down on the stand with a tearful confession...
Fiction book (1993) -
Oh, I just love tearful reunions.
-
Seaman left the stadium, still tearful, without speaking.
-
So once again, I think this is probably the last time you'll see the little spring, but let's bid a tearful farewell to it.
-
Jacob's face turns grim as a tearful Karen runs up to him, Scott following.
Fiction book (1991) -
I smiled vaguely through my tearful eyes and pointed at Sean.
Fiction book (2000) -
When husband and wife did finally meet, between William's journeyings, recrimination was followed by tearful reconciliation.
Academic text (1999)
Synonyms
Feeling unhappy or upset because of something
Crying because you feel very sad or touched
Having eyes that look ready to cry
Feeling like you want to cry easily
Feeling deep sadness because of a loss
Feeling very sad because of loss or disappointment
Having a sad sound that makes people feel unhappy
With eyes full of tears because of strong feeling or something in the eye
Eyes are wet with tears because of strong feeling
Feeling strong emotion that makes you cry
Feeling or showing deep sadness
Wet and marked from crying, often on cheeks or a pillow
Feeling or showing deep sadness because of a loss
Showing sadness or making people want to cry
About to start crying because you feel sad
Showing sadness by crying
Full of deep sadness
Antonyms
How Tearful
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
Tearful is made of the word tear (the drops from your eyes) and the ending -ful, which means 'full of'. So a tearful person is literally 'full of tears', which is why the word means showing that you are about to cry.