noun, slang ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   An emotionally charged film, novel, song, opera, television episode, etc., usually with one or more sad passages or ending, so termed because it suggests one is likely to cry during its performance. informal

   "Renamed in honor of the tube tearjerker, the work wondrously went on to become the most recognized theme in all of soapdom."

2. 2
   an excessively sentimental narrative wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

bathosbleeding heartcloyingnesscryfestcryfestdeath disc

Example

More examples

"That movie was a real tearjerker."

Etymology

From tear + jerker.

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