tear up
— phrasal verb with tear uk/tɪər/us/tɪr/verb [ I ]
mainly US to get tears in your eyes, so that you almost start to cry, because you are experiencing strong emotion:
She teared up as the award was presented to her.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Weeping and crying
- bawl
- bucket
- burst
- burst out laughing/crying idiom
- crocodile tears
- crumple
- cry
- dissolve
- dry your eyes idiom
- flood
- lachrymose
- mist
- mist (sth) over/up
- misty-eyed
- not a dry eye in the house idiom
- not know whether to laugh or cry idiom
- sniffle
- snuffle
- tear 1
- weepy
See more results »