teary
Americanadjective
-
characterized by, covered with, or secreting tears
-
given to weeping; tearful
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of teary
First recorded in 1325–75, teary is from the Middle English word tery. See tear 1, -y 1
Explanation
When you're teary, your eyes fill with tears and you may even cry. Sad movies can make you teary, and so can chopping onions. If you're so sentimental that tragic stories and sentimental songs bring you to the edge of weeping, you can say they make you teary. You might say a teary farewell to your camp friends at the end of the summer or get teary at the thought of the dog you had when you were little. Pitiful, poignant, and sad things can all make you teary.
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.
He shows such ready mas tery of comic tempo and zany action that Mike Nichols and Gene Saks might as well know that they have a competitor on their hands.
From Time Magazine Archive
He studied his own face in 50 oils and 60 etchings; none bear the mark of flat tery, and many show a skeleton looking over his shoulder.
From Time Magazine Archive
As the spacecraft hurtled toward the moon's Sea of Tranquillity, it sent back a vast amount of data; it reported on its changing internal temperature, its bat tery voltages, the position of its antennas.
From Time Magazine Archive
Panorama Journalist Carlo Rossella added to the mys tery, explaining that he had been given a translation of the letter at a surreptitious meeting in a Milan restaurant.
From Time Magazine Archive
But everything comes back to the unanswerable mys tery which seems to make all of life un answerable: why does a man embrace what he hates � perversely bond himself to what destroys him?
From Time Magazine Archive
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.
