lachrymose

WOTD – 20 July 2006

English [edit]

From Latin lacrimōsus, from lacrima (“tear”) (f), + -osus (“-ful”), from Old Latin dacruma, from Proto-Indo-European *dakru-, cognate with English tear.

lachrymose (comparative more lachrymose, superlative most lachrymose)

tearful, sorrowful, sad, pertaining to tears, weeping, causing tears or crying
- 1927, Thornton Wilder, The Bridge of San Luis Rey, page 69:
  
  It is true that Limeans were given to interpolating trivial songs into the most exquisite comedies and some lachrymose effects into the austerest music; but at least they never submitted to the boredom of a misplaced veneration.

tearful