Definition of tear

"tear" in the noun sense

1. tear, teardrop

a drop of the clear salty saline solution secreted by the lacrimal glands

"his story brought tears to her eyes"

2. rip, rent, snag, split, tear

an opening made forcibly as by pulling apart

"there was a rip in his pants"

"she had snags in her stockings"

3. bust, tear, binge, bout

an occasion for excessive eating or drinking

"they went on a bust that lasted three days"

4. tear

the act of tearing

"he took the manuscript in both hands and gave it a mighty tear"

"tear" in the verb sense

1. tear, rupture, snap, bust

separate or cause to separate abruptly

"The rope snapped"

"tear the paper"

2. tear

to separate or be separated by force

"planks were in danger of being torn from the crossbars"

3. tear, shoot, shoot down, charge, buck

move quickly and violently

"The car tore down the street"

"He came charging into my office"

4. pluck, pull, tear, deplume, deplumate, displume

strip of feathers

"pull a chicken"

"pluck the capon"

5. tear

fill with tears or shed tears

"Her eyes were tearing"

Source: WordNet® (An amazing lexical database of English)

Princeton University "About WordNet®."
WordNet®. Princeton University. 2010.


View WordNet® License

Quotations for tear

Nothing dries sooner than a tear. [ English Proverb, collected by George Herbert ]

There is a tear for all that die;
A mourner over the humblest grave. [ Byron ]

There is a tear for all who die,
A mourner over the humblest grave. [ Byron ]

So bright the tear in Beauty's eye.
Love half regrets to kiss it dry. [ Byron ]

They bore him barefaced on the bier;
And in his grave rained many a tear. [ William Shakespeare ]

Wide will wear, but narrow will tear. [ Proverb ]

In woman's eye the unanswerable tear. [ Byron ]

Without the meed of some melodious tear. [ Milton ]

O father, what a hell of witchcraft lies
In the small orb of one particular tear! [ William Shakespeare ]

And thou art terrible - the tear,
The groan, the knell, the pall, the bier;
And ail we know, or dream, or fear
Of agony, are thine. [ Halleck ]

Within the rose I found a trembling tear,
Close curtained in a gloom of crimson night
By tender petals from the outer light. [ Boyesen ]

E'en like the passage of an angel's tear
That falls through the clear ether silently. [ Keats ]

A stoic of the woods, - a man without a tear. [ Campbell ]

God's plans like lilies pure and white unfold;
We must not tear the close-shut leaves apart;
Time will reveal the calyxes of gold. [ Mary R. Smith ]

The graceful tear that streams for others' woes. [ Akenside ]

The grateful tear that streams for others' woes. [ Akenside ]

With a smile on her lips, and a tear in her eye. [ Sir Walter Scott ]

Trade hardly deems the busy day begun,
Till his keen eye along the sheet has run;
The blooming daughter throws her needle by.
And reads her schoolmate's marriage with a sigh;
While the grave mother puts her glasses on.
And gives a tear to some old crony gone.
The preacher, too, his Sunday theme lays down,
To know what last new folly fills the town;
Lively or sad, life's meanest, mightiest things.
The fate of fighting cocks, or fighting kings. [ Sprague ]

Every tear is a verse, and every heart is a poem. [ Marc Andre ]

It is a base thing to tear a dead lion's beard off. [ Proverb ]

Love - what a volume in a word, an ocean in a tear! [ Tupper ]

Love your neighbour, but don't tear down the fence. [ German Proverb ]

No radiant pearl which crested fortune wears,
No gem that, twinkling, hangs from beauty's ears,
Not the bright stars which night's blue arch adorn,
Nor rising suns that gild the vernal morn.
Shine with such lustre as the tear that breaks
For other's woe, down virtue's manly cheeks. [ Darwin ]

Woman has a smile for every joy, and a tear for every sorrow. [ Sainte-Foix ]

Every tear of sorrow sown by the righteous springs up a pearl. [ Matthew Henry ]

Hard unkindness' altered eye. That mocks the tear it forced to flow. [ Gray ]

He hath a tear for pity, and a hand open as day for melting charity! [ William Shakespeare ]

For zeal's a dreadful termagant, That teaches saints to tear and rant. [ Butler ]

After his blood, that which a man can next give out of himself is a tear. [ Lamartine ]

The tear down childhood's cheek that flows is like the dew-drop on the rose. [ Sir Walter Scott ]

The drying up a single tear has more of honest fame than shedding seas of gore. [ Byron ]

It is folly to tear one's hair in sorrow, as if grief could be assuaged by baldness. [ Cicero ]

The tear of joy is a pearl of the first water; the mourning tear, only of the second. [ Jean Paul ]

Heart-chilling superstition! thou canst glaze even Pity's eye with her own frozen tear. [ Coleridge ]

The first tear of love that one causes to be shed is a diamond, the second a pearl, the third - a tear. [ A. Poincelot ]

Decay and disease are often beautiful, like the pearly tear of the shellfish and the hectic glow of consumption. [ Thoreau ]

It is necessary to repent for years in order to efface a fault in the eyes of men; a single tear suffices with God. [ Chateaubriand ]

In a sound sleep the soul goes home to recruit her strength, which could not else endure the wear and tear of life. [ Rahel ]

Poetry is the sister of Sorrow. Every man that suffers and weeps is a poet; every tear is a verse, and every heart a poem. [ Marc Andre ]

At the banquet of life, an unfortunate guest, I one day appeared; now, I am dying. Dying! and none there are to shed a tear over the tomb that awaits me! [ Gilbert ]

The disease and its medicine are like two factions in a besieged town; they tear one another to pieces, but both unite against their common enemy, nature. [ Jeffrey ]

O, if we could tear aside the veil, and see but for one hour what it signifies to be a soul in the power of an endless life, what a revelation would it be! [ Horace Bushnell ]

A smile is ever the most bright and beautiful with a tear upon it. What is the dawn without the dew? The tear is rendered by the smile precious above the smile itself. [ Landor ]

Woman has a smile for every joy, a tear for every sorrow, a consolation for every grief, an excuse for every fault, a prayer for every misfortune, and encouragement for every hope. [ Sainte-Foix ]

The accusing spirit, which flew off to heaven's chancery with the oath blushed as he gave it in; and the recording angel, as he wrote it down, dropped a tear upon the word and blotted it out forever. [ Sterne ]

The bee is enclosed, and shines preserved, in a tear of the sisters of Phaeton, so that it seems enshrined in its own nectar. It has obtained a worthy reward for its great toils; we may suppose that the bee itself would have desired such a death. [ Martial ]

If ever you have looked on better days, if ever been where bells have knolled to church, if ever sat at any good man's feast, if ever from your eyelids wiped a tear and know what it is to pity and be pitied, let gentleness my strong enforcement sue. [ William Shakespeare ]

Christ and His cross are not separable in this life, howbeit Christ and His cross part at heaven's door, for there is no house-room for crosses in heaven. One tear, one sigh, one sad heart, one fear, one loss, one thought of trouble cannot find lodging there. [ Rutherford ]

tear in Scrabble®

The word tear is playable in Scrabble®, no blanks required.

Scrabble® Letter Score: 4

Highest Scoring Scrabble® Plays In The Letters tear:

TEAR
(15)
RATE
(15)
RATE
(15)
TEAR
(15)
TARE
(15)
TARE
(15)
 

All Scrabble® Plays For The Word tear

TEAR
(15)
TEAR
(15)
TEAR
(12)
TEAR
(12)
TEAR
(12)
TEAR
(12)
TEAR
(10)
TEAR
(10)
TEAR
(8)
TEAR
(8)
TEAR
(8)
TEAR
(8)
TEAR
(6)
TEAR
(6)
TEAR
(6)
TEAR
(6)
TEAR
(6)
TEAR
(6)
TEAR
(5)
TEAR
(5)
TEAR
(5)
TEAR
(5)
TEAR
(4)

The 200 Highest Scoring Scrabble® Plays For Words Using The Letters In tear

TEAR
(15)
RATE
(15)
RATE
(15)
TEAR
(15)
TARE
(15)
TARE
(15)
TEAR
(12)
RATE
(12)
RATE
(12)
RATE
(12)
TARE
(12)
TARE
(12)
TARE
(12)
TARE
(12)
TEAR
(12)
RATE
(12)
TEAR
(12)
TEAR
(12)
TARE
(10)
TEAR
(10)
RATE
(10)
TARE
(10)
RATE
(10)
TEAR
(10)
ETA
(9)
TEA
(9)
EAR
(9)
RAT
(9)
EAR
(9)
TEA
(9)
RAT
(9)
ATE
(9)
ARE
(9)
TAR
(9)
ETA
(9)
ATE
(9)
TAR
(9)
ETA
(9)
EAR
(9)
TEA
(9)
EAT
(9)
ERA
(9)
ARE
(9)
EAT
(9)
ERA
(9)
TAR
(9)
EAT
(9)
ART
(9)
ARE
(9)
ART
(9)
RAT
(9)
ERA
(9)
ATE
(9)
ART
(9)
TARE
(8)
TARE
(8)
TARE
(8)
TEAR
(8)
TEAR
(8)
TARE
(8)
RATE
(8)
RATE
(8)
TEAR
(8)
RATE
(8)
RATE
(8)
TEAR
(8)
RATE
(6)
TAR
(6)
TEAR
(6)
ERA
(6)
ERA
(6)
RATE
(6)
ERA
(6)
RATE
(6)
AR
(6)
RAT
(6)
RE
(6)
RAT
(6)
TAR
(6)
ETA
(6)
RATE
(6)
RATE
(6)
TA
(6)
RAT
(6)
TA
(6)
ETA
(6)
ETA
(6)
RE
(6)
TAR
(6)
ARE
(6)
EAT
(6)
AT
(6)
TARE
(6)
EAT
(6)
ARE
(6)
ATE
(6)
TEA
(6)
AT
(6)
TEA
(6)
TEA
(6)
TARE
(6)
ART
(6)
TEAR
(6)
ART
(6)
ART
(6)
TEAR
(6)
ARE
(6)
TEAR
(6)
TEAR
(6)
ATE
(6)
ATE
(6)
AR
(6)
TARE
(6)
TARE
(6)
EAR
(6)
RATE
(6)
TARE
(6)
TARE
(6)
EAR
(6)
TEAR
(6)
EAT
(6)
EAR
(6)
TAR
(5)
TEAR
(5)
TAR
(5)
TEAR
(5)
TARE
(5)
TEAR
(5)
TEAR
(5)
RATE
(5)
TAR
(5)
TEA
(5)
TEA
(5)
TARE
(5)
TEA
(5)
TAR
(5)
TEA
(5)
TARE
(5)
TARE
(5)
RAT
(5)
RATE
(5)
EAR
(5)
ERA
(5)
ERA
(5)
ERA
(5)
EAT
(5)
EAT
(5)
EAT
(5)
RATE
(5)
EAR
(5)
EAR
(5)
EAR
(5)
ATE
(5)
ETA
(5)
ATE
(5)
ATE
(5)
ATE
(5)
ART
(5)
ART
(5)
ART
(5)
ART
(5)
ARE
(5)
ARE
(5)
ARE
(5)
ARE
(5)
ERA
(5)
EAT
(5)
RAT
(5)
ETA
(5)
RATE
(5)
RAT
(5)
ETA
(5)
ETA
(5)
RAT
(5)
RAT
(4)
EAR
(4)
ARE
(4)
RATE
(4)
ATE
(4)
TA
(4)
ATE
(4)
ARE
(4)
TEA
(4)
RAT
(4)
ATE
(4)
RE
(4)
TEA
(4)
AT
(4)
AT
(4)
TEA
(4)
AT
(4)
AT
(4)
ART
(4)
TEAR
(4)
RAT
(4)
ART
(4)
EAR
(4)
EAR
(4)
ART
(4)
RE
(4)

tear in Words With Friends™

The word tear is playable in Words With Friends™, no blanks required.

Words With Friends™ Letter Score: 4

Highest Scoring Words With Friends™ Plays In The Letters tear:

TEAR
(18)
RATE
(18)
TARE
(18)
TEAR
(18)
TARE
(18)
RATE
(18)
 

All Words With Friends™ Plays For The Word tear

TEAR
(18)
TEAR
(18)
TEAR
(12)
TEAR
(12)
TEAR
(12)
TEAR
(12)
TEAR
(10)
TEAR
(10)
TEAR
(8)
TEAR
(8)
TEAR
(8)
TEAR
(8)
TEAR
(8)
TEAR
(8)
TEAR
(6)
TEAR
(6)
TEAR
(6)
TEAR
(6)
TEAR
(6)
TEAR
(6)
TEAR
(6)
TEAR
(5)
TEAR
(5)
TEAR
(5)
TEAR
(5)
TEAR
(4)

The 200 Highest Scoring Words With Friends™ Plays Using The Letters In tear

TEAR
(18)
RATE
(18)
TARE
(18)
TEAR
(18)
TARE
(18)
RATE
(18)
TARE
(12)
TEAR
(12)
TEAR
(12)
TEAR
(12)
RATE
(12)
RATE
(12)
RATE
(12)
TEAR
(12)
RATE
(12)
TARE
(12)
TARE
(12)
TARE
(12)
RATE
(10)
RATE
(10)
TARE
(10)
TEAR
(10)
TARE
(10)
TEAR
(10)
EAT
(9)
EAT
(9)
EAR
(9)
EAR
(9)
ATE
(9)
EAR
(9)
ATE
(9)
TEA
(9)
EAT
(9)
TEA
(9)
RAT
(9)
ERA
(9)
ERA
(9)
TEA
(9)
ERA
(9)
ETA
(9)
ETA
(9)
ETA
(9)
RAT
(9)
RAT
(9)
TAR
(9)
TAR
(9)
ATE
(9)
TAR
(9)
ART
(9)
ARE
(9)
ARE
(9)
ART
(9)
ARE
(9)
ART
(9)
RATE
(8)
TARE
(8)
RATE
(8)
TEAR
(8)
TARE
(8)
TARE
(8)
RATE
(8)
TARE
(8)
RATE
(8)
TARE
(8)
TARE
(8)
TEAR
(8)
TEAR
(8)
RATE
(8)
TEAR
(8)
RATE
(8)
TEAR
(8)
TEAR
(8)
ART
(7)
TAR
(7)
EAT
(7)
ARE
(7)
ERA
(7)
EAR
(7)
RAT
(7)
TEA
(7)
ATE
(7)
ETA
(7)
RAT
(6)
RATE
(6)
RATE
(6)
ARE
(6)
RAT
(6)
TAR
(6)
RATE
(6)
RAT
(6)
TEAR
(6)
ETA
(6)
TAR
(6)
RATE
(6)
RATE
(6)
TEAR
(6)
TAR
(6)
TA
(6)
TARE
(6)
AR
(6)
TA
(6)
TARE
(6)
TARE
(6)
RE
(6)
RE
(6)
TARE
(6)
TARE
(6)
TEAR
(6)
TARE
(6)
TARE
(6)
ARE
(6)
AR
(6)
RATE
(6)
ARE
(6)
RATE
(6)
AT
(6)
ART
(6)
ETA
(6)
ERA
(6)
TEAR
(6)
EAR
(6)
EAT
(6)
ART
(6)
EAT
(6)
TEAR
(6)
TEA
(6)
EAR
(6)
TEA
(6)
ERA
(6)
EAR
(6)
AT
(6)
ATE
(6)
ERA
(6)
TEA
(6)
ATE
(6)
TEAR
(6)
ETA
(6)
ATE
(6)
TEAR
(6)
EAT
(6)
ART
(6)
ARE
(5)
TARE
(5)
TEA
(5)
ATE
(5)
TAR
(5)
TAR
(5)
TAR
(5)
EAR
(5)
EAR
(5)
ATE
(5)
TEAR
(5)
EAR
(5)
ATE
(5)
TARE
(5)
EAR
(5)
TEAR
(5)
TEAR
(5)
ATE
(5)
TARE
(5)
TAR
(5)
EAT
(5)
TEA
(5)
ERA
(5)
ART
(5)
TEAR
(5)
RAT
(5)
ETA
(5)
TEA
(5)
RAT
(5)
RAT
(5)
RAT
(5)
ERA
(5)
ERA
(5)
ARE
(5)
RATE
(5)
EAT
(5)
TARE
(5)
ETA
(5)
ARE
(5)
RATE
(5)
ART
(5)
ERA
(5)
RATE
(5)
TEA
(5)
ART
(5)
EAT
(5)
RATE
(5)
EAT
(5)
ETA
(5)
ARE
(5)
ETA
(5)
ART
(5)
TEAR
(4)
TEA
(4)
TEA
(4)
TEA
(4)
RAT
(4)
TARE
(4)
AT
(4)

Words within the letters of tear

2 letter words in tear (4 words)

3 letter words in tear (10 words)

4 letter words in tear (Anagrams) (3 words)

tear + 2 blanks (262 words)

abateracateracuteradvertaerateaetheraftersaigretalertsaltersantherantlerardentargentarmetsarmletarrestarteryartierassertasternastersatonerattireaurateauteuravertsbaiterbanterbarestbaritebarterbasterbatherbatterbeaterberatebetrayboaterboratebreastbreathcantercaretscarpetcartedcartelcartercastercaterscautercerateclaretcratedcratercratescreatecuratedafterdarteddarterdatersdearthdecartdepartdreamteartagearthsearthyeastereaterseateryelaterentraperranterrataextrasfalterfasterfatherfatterfratergaitergarnetgarretgartergathergratedgratergratesgreatsgyratehafterhalterhapterhatershatredhatterhearthheartsheartyheateriraterkaratekaritelatherlatterlearntloratelyratemarketmartenmastermatersmattermaturenatternatureneaternectaroratedoratesornatepalterpanterparentpargetpartedpatterpetardpirateplaterpratedpraterpratespretanpretaxrabbetrachetracketraftedrafterrametsramjetrantedranterrarestrasterratersratherrattedratterrattlerawestreactsrealtyreastsrebaitrebaterebathrecantrecastrecoatrectalredactredatereheatrelastrelaterematerentalrepeatreseatretackretagsretailretainretakeretaperetapsretardretaskreteamretearrethawretinaretraprotatesaltersatiresearatseaterskaterslaterstagerstalerstaredstarerstaresstarvestaterstayersternastreakstreamtackertaggertakerstalkertallertamerstampertankertannertaperstappertargettarredtartertaserstaskertastertattertautertaverntaxersteamertearedtearerteasertephratetradtetrasthreadthreattiradetracedtracertracestradedtradertradestrameltrancetraveltreadstreatstreatytrepantriageuprateuratesvasterwafterwaiterwanterwartedwasterwaterswaterywreathyarest

Word Growth involving tear

Shorter words in tear

ar ear

tea

Longer words containing tear

monoxystearin

outearn outearned

outearn outearning

outearn outearns

oxystearic

retear retearing

retear retears

stearate monostearate monostearates

stearate quadristearate

stearate stearates monostearates

stearolactone stearolactones

tearable

tearaway tearaways

teardown teardowns

teardrop teardrops

teared wheateared

tearer tearers

tearful tearfully

tearful tearfulness

teargas teargases

teargas teargassed

teargas teargasses

teargas teargassing

tearier

teariest

tearily

teariness

tearing retearing

tearjerker tearjerkers

tearless tearlessly

tearless tearlessness

tearlike

tearoom tearooms

tearproof tearproofed

tearproof tearproofer tearproofers

tearproof tearproofing

tearproof tearproofs

tears retears

tears tearsheet tearsheets

tears tearstain tearstained

tears tearstain tearstains

tears wheatears

teary

wheatear wheateared

wheatear wheatears