Standard Lemma guide

tearful

adj · 4 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • UK: /ˈtɪə(ɹ)fʊl/
  • UK: /ˈtɪə(ɹ)fəl/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • General-American: /ˈtɪɹfʊl/
  • General-American: /ˈtɪɹfəl/
  • rhymes with -ɪə(ɹ)fəl
  • rhymes with -ɪə(ɹ)fʊl
  • CMU ARPABET: T IH1 R F AH0 L Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Accompanied by tears; crying, or about to cry.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

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

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: crysome, lachrymose, weepy, crying, in tears, sobbing, sobful, tearful, weeping

Antonyms: none provided

2

adj

Meaning 2

Sorrowful.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: despondent, lachrymose, mournful, atrabiliary, atrabilious, blitheless, dispirited, blue, bummed out, chapfallen, cheerless, chopfallen, crestfallen, cut up, damp, dejected, depressed, disgruntled, disconsolate, disheartened, dismal, doleful, dolesome, down, down in the dumps, down in the mouth, downcast, downhearted, downsome, dull, elegiac, elegious, forlorn, gloomy, glum, grief-stricken, grieving, heavy-hearted, heartsore, heartsick, inconsolable, infelicitous, jawfallen, joyless, lamentful, low, low-spirited, lugubrious, lumpish, melancholic, melancholy, miserable, moody, mopey, morose, passionate, plaintive, Plutonian, Plutonic, querulous, ruthful, sad, saddened, saturnine, shattered, solemn, sombre, sorrowful, sorrow-ridden, sorrowsome, spiritless, sullen, threnetic, threnetical, triste, tristful, uncheerful, uncheery, unconsolable, unhappy, unlively, wistful, woe, woebegone, woeful, wretched

Antonyms: none provided

3

adjective

Meaning 3

filled with or marked by tears

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • tearful eyes
  • tearful entreaties

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: tearless

4

adjective satellite

Meaning 4

showing sorrow

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: dolorous, dolourous, lachrymose, weeping

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From tear + -ful.

Across languages

Translations

79 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: دَامِع (dāmiʕ) — accompanied by tears
  • Armenian: արցունքոտ (arcʻunkʻot) — accompanied by tears
  • Aromanian: lãcãrmos — accompanied by tears
  • Aromanian: lãcrimos — accompanied by tears
  • Bulgarian: насълзен (nasǎlzen) — accompanied by tears
  • Chinese Mandarin: 淚汪汪 /泪汪汪 (lèiwāngwāng) — accompanied by tears
  • Chinese Mandarin: 淚眼汪汪 /泪眼汪汪 (lèiyǎn wāngwāng) — accompanied by tears
  • Czech: uslzený — accompanied by tears
  • Czech: uplakaný — accompanied by tears
  • Danish: tårefyld — accompanied by tears
  • Dutch: betraand — accompanied by tears
  • Dutch: vochtig — accompanied by tears
  • Finnish: itkun partaalla — accompanied by tears
  • Finnish: kyyneleinen — accompanied by tears
  • French: au bord des larmes — accompanied by tears
  • French: larmoyant — accompanied by tears
  • German: tränenreich — accompanied by tears
  • Greek: δακρυσμένος (dakrysménos) — accompanied by tears
  • Greek: έτοιμος να βάλει τα κλάματα (étoimos na válei ta klámata) — accompanied by tears
  • Greek: κλαμένος (klaménos) — accompanied by tears
  • Hindi: अश्रुपूर्ण (aśrupūrṇ) — accompanied by tears
  • Hungarian: könnyes — accompanied by tears
  • Italian: bagnato — accompanied by tears
  • Italian: lacrimoso — accompanied by tears
  • Italian: piangente — accompanied by tears
  • Italian: umido — accompanied by tears
  • Japanese: 涙ぐんだ (namida gunda) — accompanied by tears
  • Karakhanid: يَشْلِغْ (yašlïɣ) — accompanied by tears
  • Latvian: raudulīgs — accompanied by tears
  • Māori: matawai — accompanied by tears
  • Māori: matawaia — accompanied by tears
  • Māori: toriwai — accompanied by tears
  • Māori: tōwāwahi — accompanied by tears
  • Norwegian Bokmål: forgrått — accompanied by tears
  • Norwegian Bokmål: tårefylt — accompanied by tears
  • Norwegian Bokmål: tårevåt — accompanied by tears
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: gråtfull — accompanied by tears
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: tårefull — accompanied by tears
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: tårevåt — accompanied by tears
  • Old Uyghur: yʾšlyγ (yašlïɣ) — accompanied by tears
  • Persian: تر (tar) — accompanied by tears
  • Polish: zapłakany — accompanied by tears
  • Polish: rozpłakany — accompanied by tears
  • Polish: płaczliwy — accompanied by tears
  • Polish: łzawy — accompanied by tears
  • Portuguese: lacrimejante — accompanied by tears
  • Romanian: înlăcrimat — accompanied by tears
  • Russian: глаза́ на мо́кром ме́сте (glazá na mókrom méste) — accompanied by tears
  • Russian: по́лный слёз (pólnyj sljoz) — accompanied by tears
  • Russian: в слеза́х (v slezáx) — accompanied by tears
  • Russian: запла́канный (zaplákannyj) — accompanied by tears
  • Spanish: lloroso — accompanied by tears
  • Spanish: lacrimoso — accompanied by tears
  • Spanish: lagrimoso — accompanied by tears
  • Swedish: gråtmild — accompanied by tears
  • Swedish: tårfylld — accompanied by tears
  • Turkish: gözyaşlı — accompanied by tears
  • Turkish: yaşlı — accompanied by tears
  • Ottoman Turkish: یاشلو (yaşlı) — accompanied by tears
  • Bulgarian: тъжен (tǎžen) — sorrowful
  • Finnish: kyyneleinen — sorrowful
  • French: éploré — sorrowful
  • French: larmoyant — sorrowful
  • Greek: δακρύβρεχτος (dakrývrechtos) — sorrowful
  • Hindi: रुआँसा (ruā̃sā) — sorrowful
  • Hindi: रुआँसी (ruā̃sī) — sorrowful
  • Hungarian: szomorú — sorrowful
  • Latvian: raudulīgs — sorrowful
  • Norwegian Bokmål: tåredryppende — sorrowful
  • Norwegian Bokmål: gråtkvalt — sorrowful
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: tåredrypande — sorrowful
  • Polish: żałosny — sorrowful
  • Polish: stroskany — sorrowful
  • Polish: rzewny — sorrowful
  • Russian: печа́льный (pečálʹnyj) — sorrowful
  • Turkish: yaslı — sorrowful
  • Turkish: gözü yaşlı — sorrowful
  • Turkish: ağlamaklı — sorrowful
  • Turkish: acıklı — sorrowful