vale of tears
1
9.9
- noun
- Archaic
:
valle de lágrimas
- "For millions this life is a sad vale of tears
Examples
-
This complex world of ours, this vale of tears, lies awash in irony.
Academic text (1995) -
Instead of life being a vale of tears, it is a vale of diseases.
Blog text (2) -
I would really like for us to not want to be better than each other, but, of course, that will not happen in the vale of tears.
Blog text (26) -
Alas, he's left this vale of tears.
-
If you have seen your own grandchild killed by a car, or have traveled in poor countries and have seen the misery of people starving slowly to death, your own sense of justice demands that there be more to life than the vale of tears we experience in this life.
Blog text (29) -
They are decent, hard-working people, trying the best they can and the best they know how to live decent, productive lives to raise their children and care for their loved ones to make their way righteously through this vale of tears.
Blog text (31) -
A pessimistic outlook, the belief that we are headed for hell in a handbasket and there is no hope, that people are evil, and that life is a vale of tears, etc., are all functions of one's worldview.
Blog text (13) -
So, yes, it is all going to end in a vale of tears, but I think, with respect to your hyperinflation thesis, that you should pay special and careful attention to the latest utterances of World Bank head Robert Zoellick, because his comments signify that a great sea change is upon us.
Blog text (11) -
It reveals something about the potential of the church, even before Christ's definitive appearance, to manifest his deathless life even now "in this vale of tears."
Academic text (1994) -
For many, life feels like a vale of tears, filled with suffering and sorrow.
Synonyms
443
2.1
Deep sadness after you lose someone or something important
229
1.0
A feeling of being unhappy
4
3.7
A very strong feeling of sadness after a great loss
2
9.0
A very deep feeling of sadness with no hope
1
6.5
A deep, quiet feeling or look of sadness
A deep feeling of sadness about a loss
A feeling of having many tears and wanting to cry because of sadness
Deep sadness after losing someone you love
Very deep sadness that feels too strong to understand
Surface Forms
Morphology
vale + of + tears
The phrase literally combines 'vale' (valley) + 'tears' in a straightforward genitive construction, so a learner who knows those words can infer a figurative 'valley characterized by crying' — i.e., a state of sorrow. Because the usage is literary/archaic and requires a metaphorical extension from a literal place to the idea of life or the world, the meaning is partially but not fully predictable.
Etymology
The phrase vale of tears may come from old religious pictures that showed life as a low valley full of tears. The picture of a vale, or valley, full of tears shows why the phrase means 'a life full of suffering'.