Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Given to or tending to cause shedding tears; tearful: Describes a person who cries easily or frequently, or something that induces tears.
   • Mournful, sad, sorrowful: Expressing or suggestive of grief or sadness.

Usage

The word "lachrymose" is a formal and literary adjective. It is used to describe a person's disposition (prone to crying) or the emotional quality of a situation, story, or piece of art (sad enough to make one cry). It often carries a slightly old-fashioned or poetic tone.

Examples

• Describing a person's nature:
  • He became quite lachrymose after hearing the sad news.
  • My lachrymose aunt cries during every sentimental movie.
• Describing an emotional quality:
  • The singer's lachrymose ballad moved the entire audience to tears.
  • The memoir's lachrymose tone made it a difficult but poignant read.

Advanced Usage

• In literary or formal criticism: Used to describe works characterized by an excess of sentimental sorrow.
  • The critic dismissed the film as a lachrymose melodrama.
• In a biological/medical context (archaic): Pertaining to or connected with tears (from Latin , meaning "tear").
  • The lachrymose glands secrete tears. (Note: The modern medical term is "lacrimal.")

Variants and Related Words

• Lachrymation (n): The secretion or flow of tears.
• Lacrimal (adj): Of or relating to tears or the tear-secreting organs (the preferred term in anatomy).
• Lachrymal (adj): An alternative spelling of "lacrimal," now less common.

Synonyms

• Tearful: Full of tears; crying.
• Weepy: Inclined to weep; tearful (informal).
• Mournful: Feeling, expressing, or inducing sadness or sorrow.
• Sorrowful: Full of or feeling sorrow.
• Melancholy: A feeling of pensive sadness.

Antonyms

• Cheerful: Noticeably happy and optimistic.
• Joyful: Feeling, expressing, or causing great pleasure and happiness.
• Dry-eyed: Not crying; not showing emotion through tears.

Idioms and Phrases

• A lachrymose mood: A state of being inclined to cry or feeling sorrowful.
  • The farewell party put everyone in a lachrymose mood.
• Lachrymose sentimentality: Excessive, tear-inducing emotionalism, often viewed critically.
  • The novel was criticized for its lachrymose sentimentality.

Adjective

1. showing sorrow