tearful

English

Etymology

From tear +‎ -ful.

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA(key): /ˈtɪə(ɹ)fʊl/, /ˈtɪə(ɹ)fəl/
  • Audio (Southern England):(file)
  • (General American) IPA(key): /ˈtɪɹfʊl/, /ˈtɪɹfəl/
  • Rhymes: -ɪə(ɹ)fəl, -ɪə(ɹ)fʊl

Adjective

tearful (comparative more tearful, superlative most tearful)

  1. Accompanied by tears; crying, or about to cry.
    Aaron got a little tearful until Laura came to reassure him.
    • 1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “The Remembrance of the Dead”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 322:
      The week that was yet to elapse, she spent in wandering through her uncle's favourite walks in hours of tearful vigil, beside his tomb, and in collecting together every trifle on which he had set a value.
  2. Sorrowful.
    Synonym: lachrymose
    • 1989 February 5, Craig G. Harris, “Your Life's All In Your Dreams And Your Dreams Are All In Your Life”, in Gay Community News, volume 16, number 29, page 9:
      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.

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