eye-wateringly

adverb

In a manner or to a degree that causes one’s eyes to water or tear up, often due to an emotional situation or sentimental feelings, or due to shocking or exciting events.

Meanings

adverbeye-wateringly (comparative more eye-wateringly, superlative most eye-wateringly)

comparative more eye-wateringly · superlative most eye-wateringly · alternative eyewateringly

  1. In a manner or to a degree that causes one’s eyes to water or tear up, often due to an emotional situation or sentimental feelings, or due to shocking or exciting events.

    […] the story gave way to a lot of gung-ho nonsense about insurgents, some sub-Loaded male bonding and an eyewateringly terrible final act.

    2015 December 21, Phil De Semlyen, “The Worst Movies of 2015”, in Empire
    4 more examples

    Another Indonesian soup, asam shrimp […], includes incredibly fresh shrimp in their shells and okra in a tamarind broth that is wonderfully tart and sweet and eye-wateringly spicy.

    1994 April 8, Eric Asimov, “Arts”, in New York Times

    It is first and foremost a literary prize, something I have to keep telling myself after reading the umpteenth eye-wateringly explicit gay sex scene.

    2012 June 7, Suzi Feay, “Where are the new UK lesbian writers?”, in The Guardian

    […] there are ladylike looks from Dior and Lanvin sitting alongside more rock’n’roll (and eye wateringly expensive) Balenciaga and Balmain pastel leather bombers and luxe denims.

    2013 October 27, Alison Taylor, “Riga, Warsaw and Bucharest: the new frontiers of fashion”, in Daily Telegraph

    2016, David Robert Grimes, quoted in Abby Ohlheiser, “Why the Internet’s biggest conspiracy theories don’t make mathematical sense,” Washington Post, 28 January, 2016, I hope that by showing how eye-wateringly unlikely some alleged conspiracies are, some people will reconsider their anti-science beliefs.

Cite this entry
APA

eye-wateringly. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/eye-wateringly

MLA

“eye-wateringly.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/eye-wateringly. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “eye-wateringly,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/eye-wateringly.

Source: eye-wateringly on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.