Synonyms for tearful
- adjective
Most common
Synonyms by meaning
Adjective
1. Sorrowful
sorrowful, mournful, grief-stricken, despondent, plaintive, unhappy, doleful, miserable, lugubrious, lachrymose, woeful, inconsolable, dejected, disconsolate, rueful, somber US, sombre UK, heartsick, forlorn, piteous, melancholy, dispirited, down-hearted
2. Teary — accompanied by tears; crying, or about to cry
teary, weepy, sobbing, in tears, crying, crysome, sobful dated
Other
moist, lachrymate formal rare
Definitions
- adj. 1
Accompanied by tears; crying, or about to cry.
Aaron got a little tearful until Laura came to reassure him.
- adj. 2
Sorrowful.
Related words
- Word family
- tearfulness
- Is a kind of
- sad crying
Example sentences
- mournful Tom stood at the window with a mournful expression on his face.
- despondent Millions of Russians feel cheated and despondent.
- plaintive The plaintive melody broke her heart.
- teary I get teary-eyed every time I watch this movie.
- weepy She cried all morning and was still weepy at dinnertime.
Popularity over time
| Word | 1850 → 2019 | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| tearful | rising | |
| mournful | rising | |
| despondent | rising | |
| plaintive | rising | |
| teary | rising |
Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.
By length
- 5 letters
- moist1, teary2, weepy2
- 6 letters
- crying2, somber2, sombre, woeful2, rueful2, sobful
- 7 letters
- unhappy3, sobbing2, forlorn2, doleful2, piteous, crysome
- 8 letters
- dejected3, mournful2, dolorous
- 9 letters
- miserable4, sorrowful3, plaintive2, heartsick, dolourous
- 10 letters
- melancholy4, despondent3, dispirited4, lugubrious4, lachrymose3, lachrymate
- 12 letters
- inconsolable, disconsolate
The small number after each word is its number of syllables (teary2 = 2 syllables).
In other languages
- Français
- éploré