What does TEAR mean?

Definitions for TEAR
tɪərtear

This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word TEAR.

Princeton's WordNet

  1. tear, teardropnoun

    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, tearnoun

    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, boutnoun

    an occasion for excessive eating or drinking

    "they went on a bust that lasted three days"

  4. tearverb

    the act of tearing

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

  5. tear, rupture, snap, bustverb

    separate or cause to separate abruptly

    "The rope snapped"; "tear the paper"

  6. tearverb

    to separate or be separated by force

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

  7. tear, shoot, shoot down, charge, buckverb

    move quickly and violently

    "The car tore down the street"; "He came charging into my office"

  8. pluck, pull, tear, deplume, deplumate, displumeverb

    strip of feathers

    "pull a chicken"; "pluck the capon"

  9. tearverb

    fill with tears or shed tears

    "Her eyes were tearing"

Samuel Johnson's Dictionary

  1. To Tear

    pret. tore, anciently tare, part. pass. torn;

    Etymology: tæran , Saxon; tara, Swedish.

    Come feeling night,
    And with thy bloody and invisible hand
    Cancel and tear to pieces that great bond
    Which keeps me pale. William Shakespeare, Macbeth.

    The one went out from me; and I said, Surely he is torn in pieces, and I saw him not since. Gen. xliv. 28.

    John tore off lord Strutt’s servants cloaths: now and then they came home naked. John Arbuthnot, Hist. of John Bull.

    Ambassadors sent to Carthage were like to be torn to pieces by the populace. Arbuthnot.

    Old with dust deform’d their hoary hair,
    The women beat their breasts, their cheeks they tare. William Shakespeare.

    Neither shall men tear themselves for them in mourning to comfort them for the dead. Jer. xvi. 7.

    In the midst a tearing groan did break
    The name of Antony. William Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra.

    As storms the skies, and torrents tear the ground,
    Thus rag’d the prince, and scatter’d death around. Dryden.

    Blush rather, that you are a slave to passion,
    Which, like a whirlwind, tears up all your virtues,
    And gives you not the leisure to consider. Ambrose Philips.

    Is it not as much reason to say, that God destroys fatherly authority, when he suffers one in possession of it to have his government torn in pieces, and shared by his subjects. John Locke.

    He roar’d, he beat his breast, he tore his hair. Dryden.

    From harden’d oak, or from a rock’s cold womb,
    At least thou art from some fierce tygress come;
    Or on rough seas from their foundation torn,
    Got by the winds, and in a tempest born. Dryden.

    Solyman
    Rhodes and Buda from the Christians tore. Edmund Waller.

    The hand of fate
    Has torn thee from me, and I must forget thee. Addison.

  2. Tearnoun

    Etymology: tear , Saxon; taare, Danish.

    She comes; and I’ll prepare
    My tear stain’d eyes to see her miseries. William Shakespeare.

    The pretty vaulting sea refus’d to drown me,
    Knowing, that thou would’st have me drown’d on shore
    With tears as salt as sea, through thy unkindness. William Shakespeare.

    Cromwell, I did not think to shed a tear
    In all my miseries; but thou hast forc’d me.
    Lets dry our eyes. William Shakespeare, Henry VIII.

    Tears are the effects of compression of the moisture of the brain upon dilation of the spirits. Francis Bacon, Nat. Hist.

    She silently a gentle tear let fall. John Milton.

    Let Araby extol her happy coast,
    Her fragrant flow’rs, her trees with precious tears,
    Her second harvests. Dryden.

  3. Tearnoun

    A rent; a fissure.

    Etymology: from the verb.

  4. To Tearverb

    To fume; to rave; to rant turbulently.

    Etymology: tieren, Dutch.

    All men transported into outrages for small trivial matters, fall under the inuendo of this bull, that ran tearing mad for the pinching of a mouse. Roger L'Estrange, Fables.

ChatGPT

  1. tear

    A tear is a drop of clear salty liquid produced from the lachrymal glands located in the eyes, often in response to emotions such as sadness, happiness, or physical pain. It can also be a result of irritation to the eye. Alternatively, 'tear' can refer to the act of ripping or pulling apart something by force.

Webster Dictionary

  1. Tearnoun

    a drop of the limpid, saline fluid secreted, normally in small amount, by the lachrymal gland, and diffused between the eye and the eyelids to moisten the parts and facilitate their motion. Ordinarily the secretion passes through the lachrymal duct into the nose, but when it is increased by emotion or other causes, it overflows the lids

  2. Tearnoun

    something in the form of a transparent drop of fluid matter; also, a solid, transparent, tear-shaped drop, as of some balsams or resins

  3. Tearnoun

    that which causes or accompanies tears; a lament; a dirge

  4. Tearverb

    to separate by violence; to pull apart by force; to rend; to lacerate; as, to tear cloth; to tear a garment; to tear the skin or flesh

  5. Tearverb

    hence, to divide by violent measures; to disrupt; to rend; as, a party or government torn by factions

  6. Tearverb

    to rend away; to force away; to remove by force; to sunder; as, a child torn from its home

  7. Tearverb

    to pull with violence; as, to tear the hair

  8. Tearverb

    to move violently; to agitate

  9. Tearverb

    to divide or separate on being pulled; to be rent; as, this cloth tears easily

  10. Tearverb

    to move and act with turbulent violence; to rush with violence; hence, to rage; to rave

  11. Tearnoun

    the act of tearing, or the state of being torn; a rent; a fissure

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary

  1. Tear

    tēr, n. a drop of the fluid secreted by the lachrymal gland, appearing in the eyes: anything like a tear.—ns. Tear′-drop, a tear; Tear′-duct, the lachrymal or nasal duct.—adjs. Tear′-fall′ing (Shak.), shedding tears, tender; Tear′ful, abounding with or shedding tears: weeping.—adv. Tear′fully.—n. Tear′fulness.—adjs. Tear′less, without tears: unfeeling; Tear′-stained (Shak.), stained with tears; Tear′y, tearful, [A.S. teár, tǽr; Goth. tagr; cf. L. lacrima, Gr. dakru.]

  2. Tear

    tār, v.t. to draw asunder or separate with violence: to make a violent rent in: to lacerate.—v.i. to move or act with violence: to rage:—pa.t. tōre, (B.) tāre; pa.p. tōrn.—n. something torn, a rent: (slang) a spree.—n. Tear′er, one who, or that which, tears: (slang) a boisterous person.—p.adj. Tear′ing, great, terrible, rushing.—Tear and wear (see Wear); Tear one's self away, to go off with great unwillingness; Tear the hair, to pull the hair in a frenzy of grief or rage; Tear up, to remove from a fixed state by violence: to pull to pieces. [A.S. teran; cf. Ger. zehren.]

Suggested Resources

  1. TEAR

    What does TEAR stand for? -- Explore the various meanings for the TEAR acronym on the Abbreviations.com website.

Surnames Frequency by Census Records

  1. TEAR

    According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Tear is ranked #82044 in terms of the most common surnames in America.

    The Tear surname appeared 230 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 0 would have the surname Tear.

    79.5% or 183 total occurrences were White.
    14.3% or 33 total occurrences were Asian.
    3.9% or 9 total occurrences were Black.

Matched Categories

British National Corpus

  1. Nouns Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'TEAR' in Nouns Frequency: #944

  2. Verbs Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'TEAR' in Verbs Frequency: #576

Anagrams for TEAR »

  1. rate

  2. tera

  3. tare

How to pronounce TEAR?

How to say TEAR in sign language?

Numerology

  1. Chaldean Numerology

    The numerical value of TEAR in Chaldean Numerology is: 3

  2. Pythagorean Numerology

    The numerical value of TEAR in Pythagorean Numerology is: 8

Examples of TEAR in a Sentence

  1. President Raul Castro:

    There is a fear that this will tear Cuban society apart.

  2. Gordana Biernat:

    Hate is a frequency grounded in insanity or fear. Cool your mind calm your heart. Don't let hate, tear you apart.

  3. Michael Miranda:

    It sounds terrible, but she’s actually very lucky, because the rehab from this bony injury is a lot quicker than the rehab from an ACL (tear), you hate to see an athlete injured in any way, but at the same time, an ACL versus an impaction injury to the tibial plateau, this is the much better injury.

  4. Mary Ross:

    Perfection can be achieved by no one, because perfection is achieved from faults- yet faults tear away the perfection in you.

  5. President Barack Obama:

    What greater rejection of those who would tear down our world than marshaling our best efforts to save it.

Popularity rank by frequency of use

TEAR#1#9356#10000

Translations for TEAR

From our Multilingual Translation Dictionary

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"TEAR." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 Mar. 2024. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/TEAR>.

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    assist or encourage, usually in some wrongdoing
    A exacerbate
    B aberrate
    C abrade
    D abet

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