Meanings
comparative more tearful · superlative most tearful
- Accompanied by tears; crying, or about to cry.
Aaron got a little tearful until Laura came to reassure him.
1 more example
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.
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 322Synonyms: crysome, lachrymose, weepy, crying, in tears, sobbing, sobful, weeping
- 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.
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 9Synonyms: despondent, lachrymose, mournful, atrabiliary, atrabilious, blitheless, dispirited, blue
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveAccompanied by tears; crying, or about to cry.
adjectiveSorrowful.
More synonyms by meaning
adjectivefilled with or marked by tears
adjectiveshowing sorrow
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
Translations
Arabic دَامِع
- دَامِع (dāmiʕ)accompanied by tears
Bulgarian насълзен, тъжен
- насълзен (nasălzen)accompanied by tears
- тъжен (tăžen)sorrowful
Chinese Mandarin 淚汪汪 /泪汪汪, 淚眼汪汪 /泪眼汪汪
- 淚汪汪 /泪汪汪 (lèiwāngwāng)accompanied by tears
- 淚眼汪汪 /泪眼汪汪 (lèiyǎn wāngwāng)accompanied by tears
Czech uslzený, uplakaný
- uslzenýaccompanied by tears
- uplakanýaccompanied by tears
Danish tårefyld
- tårefyldaccompanied by tears
Dutch betraand, vochtig
- betraandaccompanied by tears
- vochtigaccompanied by tears
Finnish itkun partaalla, kyyneleinen
- itkun partaallaaccompanied by tears
- kyyneleinenaccompanied by tears
- kyyneleinensorrowful
French au bord des larmes, larmoyant
- au bord des larmesaccompanied by tears
- larmoyantaccompanied by tears
- éplorésorrowful
- larmoyantsorrowful
German tränenreich
- tränenreichaccompanied by tears
Greek δακρυσμένος, έτοιμος να βάλει τα κλάματα
- δακρυσμένος (dakrysménos)accompanied by tears
- έτοιμος να βάλει τα κλάματα (étoimos na válei ta klámata)accompanied by tears
- κλαμένος (klaménos)accompanied by tears
- δακρύβρεχτος (dakrývrechtos)sorrowful
Hindi अश्रुपूर्ण, रुआँसा
- अश्रुपूर्ण (aśrupūrṇ)accompanied by tears
- रुआँसा (ruā̃sā)sorrowful
- रुआँसी (ruā̃sī)sorrowful
Hungarian könnyes, szomorú
- könnyesaccompanied by tears
- szomorúsorrowful
Italian bagnato, lacrimoso
- bagnatoaccompanied by tears
- lacrimosoaccompanied by tears
- piangenteaccompanied by tears
- umidoaccompanied by tears
Japanese 涙ぐんだ
- 涙ぐんだ (namida gunda)accompanied by tears
Latvian raudulīgs, raudulīgs
- raudulīgsaccompanied by tears
- raudulīgssorrowful
Māori matawai, matawaia
- matawaiaccompanied by tears
- matawaiaaccompanied by tears
- toriwaiaccompanied by tears
- tōwāwahiaccompanied by tears
Norwegian Bokmål forgrått, tårefylt
- forgråttaccompanied by tears
- tårefyltaccompanied by tears
- tårevåtaccompanied by tears
- tåredryppendesorrowful
- gråtkvaltsorrowful
Persian تر
- تر (tar)accompanied by tears
Polish zapłakany, rozpłakany
- zapłakanyaccompanied by tears
- rozpłakanyaccompanied by tears
- płaczliwyaccompanied by tears
- łzawyaccompanied by tears
- żałosnysorrowful
- stroskanysorrowful
- rzewnysorrowful
Portuguese lacrimejante
- lacrimejanteaccompanied by tears
Romanian înlăcrimat
- înlăcrimataccompanied by tears
Russian глаза́ на мо́кром ме́сте, по́лный слёз
- глаза́ на мо́кром ме́сте (glazá na mókrom méste)accompanied by tears
- по́лный слёз (pólnyj sljoz)accompanied by tears
- в слеза́х (v slezáx)accompanied by tears
- запла́канный (zaplákannyj)accompanied by tears
- печа́льный (pečálʹnyj)sorrowful
Spanish lloroso, lacrimoso
- llorosoaccompanied by tears
- lacrimosoaccompanied by tears
- lagrimosoaccompanied by tears
Swedish gråtmild, tårfylld
- gråtmildaccompanied by tears
- tårfylldaccompanied by tears
Turkish gözyaşlı, yaşlı
- gözyaşlıaccompanied by tears
- yaşlıaccompanied by tears
- yaslısorrowful
- gözü yaşlısorrowful
- ağlamaklısorrowful
- acıklısorrowful
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with tearful
All rhymes →Anagrams
Cite this entry
tearful. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tearful
“tearful.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tearful. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “tearful,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tearful.
Source: tearful on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.