tearjerker

tear·jerk·er

T t

Transcription

- US Pronunciation
- US IPA
- UK Pronunciation
- UK IPA
- [teer-jur-ker]
- /ˈtɪərˌdʒɜr kər/
- /ˈtɪəˌdʒɜː.kər/

- US Pronunciation
- US IPA
- [teer-jur-ker]
- /ˈtɪərˌdʒɜr kər/

Definitions of tearjerker word

noun tearjerker a pathetic story, play, movie, or the like; an excessively sentimental tale. 1
countable noun tearjerker If you refer to a play, movie, or book as a tearjerker, it is very sad or sentimental. 0

See all 2 definitions of tearjerker

Information block about the term

Origin of tearjerker

First appearance:

before 1930

One of the 10% newest English words

First recorded in 1930-35; tear1 + jerk1 + -er1

Historical Comparancy

Parts of speech for Tearjerker

noun

adjective

verb

adverb

pronoun

preposition

conjunction

determiner

exclamation

Full grammatical hierarchy of Tearjerker

tearjerker popularity

A pretty common term. Usually people know it’s meaning, but prefer to use a more spread out synonym. About 42% of English native speakers know the meaning and use word.

This word is included in each student's vocabulary. Most likely there is at least one movie with this word in the title.

tearjerker usage trend in Literature

This diagram is provided by Google Ngram Viewer

Synonyms for tearjerker

noun tearjerker

heartbreaker — a person, event, or thing causing heartbreak.
human interest — a quality of a story or report, as in a newspaper or on a newscast, that engages attention and sympathy by enabling one to identify readily with the people, problems, and situations described.
lyric — (of poetry) having the form and musical quality of a song, and especially the character of a songlike outpouring of the poet's own thoughts and feelings, as distinguished from epic and dramatic poetry.
weepie — a tearjerker; weeper.

All 4 Synonyms of tearjerker