adjective
-
about to cry
-
accompanying or indicative of weeping
a tearful expression
-
tending to produce tears; sad
Other Word Forms
- half-tearful adjective
- half-tearfully adverb
- half-tearfulness noun
- tearfully adverb
- tearfulness noun
Etymology
Origin of tearful
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
A tearful Savannah Guthrie described the debilitating agony that haunts her at night.
From BBC
That was when I noticed that Lizzie was becoming quite tearful and upset.
From Literature
When Roman blurts out that Logan’s gone, handing Shiv the phone, her tearful squawk is heartrending.
From Salon
Jack Walker, the man who bankrolled Rovers' Premier League title four years earlier, was tearful in the Ewood Park terraces.
From BBC
"A counsellor was coming to Stephen's house when I was living there. I was very tearful day to day."
From BBC
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
