Tearful

//ˈtɪɹfʊl// adj

adj ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Accompanied by tears; crying, or about to cry.

    "Aaron got a little tearful until Laura came to reassure him."

  2. 2
    Sorrowful.

    "Receiving the news of Joseph Beam's death two days after Christmas was a piercing blow that sent me into a tearful and contemplative stupor from which I have not yet emerged."

Adjective
  1. 1
    showing sorrow wordnet
  2. 2
    filled with or marked by tears wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
lachrymoseweepyaggrievedanguishedblubberingcareworn

Example

More examples

"He devoted a whole poem to the blueness of his victim's eyes, which the two policemen read out loud to one another through hysterical, tearful laughter."

Etymology

From tear + -ful.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.