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Definition of "tearful" []

  • Filled with or accompanied by tears: tearful eyes; a tearful farewell. (adjective)
  • So piteous as to excite tears: a tearful melodrama. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "tearful" in a sentence
  • "When she heard his words, she wept and sobbed, and the merchant said to her, O my lady, I observe that, every time I mention Baghdad, thine eyes are tearful: is there any one there whom thou lovest?"
  • ""Do you call a tearful interview with the mother of an accused killer unbiased?""
  • "She could only press her lips in tearful silence to the one and the other of her mother's cheeks alternately."