definitions

tearjerker

[ teer-jur-ker ]
/ ˈtɪərˌdʒɜr kər /
SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR tearjerker ON THESAURUS.COM

noun Informal.

a pathetic story, play, movie, or the like; an excessively sentimental tale.

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RELATED WORDS

longing, sentimentality, remorse, yearning, wistfulness, play, theater, farce, show, scene, production, comedy, tragedy, melodrama, homesickness, reminiscence, schmaltz, pining, story, novel

Nearby words

teardrop, tearful, tearfully, tearing, tearingly, tearjerker, tearless, tearlessly, tearoom, tears, tearstain

Origin of tearjerker

First recorded in 1930–35; tear1 + jerk1 + -er1
Related formstear·jerk·ing, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

British Dictionary definitions for tear-jerker

tear-jerker

/ (ˈtɪəˌdʒɜːkə) /

noun

informal an excessively sentimental film, play, book, etc
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for tear-jerker

tear-jerker

n.

1911, in reference to newspaper stories about tragic situations, on model of soda-jerker and perhaps especially beer-jerker, from tear (n.1) + jerk (v.).

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper