tear-stained

tear-stained — adjective

1. marked with the wet traces of tears on a person's face or on an object such as a

1.adjectiveB1
Definition

marked with the wet traces of tears on a person's face or on an object such as a letter or photograph

Example

Tamar's tear-stained face told the whole story before she said a word.

collocation: tear-stained face

The letter was tear-stained in several places, as if someone had cried while reading it.

Common collocations
  • face
  • cheeks
  • eyes
  • letter
  • page
  • photograph
  • tissue
  • pillow
  • envelope
Synonyms
  • tearful

    describes a person who is crying or about to cry, whereas tear-stained describes the visible result after the tears have been shed

  • tear-streaked

    very similar, but emphasises the line-shaped marks where tears have run down the face

  • weepy

    informal term for someone who cries easily or is in a tearful mood, not used for physical marks

Antonyms
  • dry-faced

    not showing any signs of having cried

Grammar Patterns

tear-stained + noun

be/look/feel + tear-stained

Usage Note

Typically used to describe a person’s face, cheeks, or eyes after crying, but also applied to objects such as letters, tissues, or photographs that have visible traces of tears.

Common Mistakes

She had a tear-stained eye.
She had tear-stained cheeks.
Tear-stained is most naturally used with plural surfaces (cheeks, eyes) or the face as a whole, not a single eye.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: adjective/1

Tear-stained describes a visible physical mark left by tears on skin or an object, like a tear-stained pillow or a tear-stained letter. Tearful refers to a person's emotional state (feeling like crying or actually crying), so someone can be tearful without having a tear-stained face. Tear-streaked is the closest synonym and specifically emphasises the line-shaped marks left by tears running down the cheeks; a face can be tear-streaked from a few tears but not fully tear-stained. Weepy is informal and describes a person's tendency to cry easily (“I feel weepy watching this movie”), not a physical description. Use tear-stained when you can see the dried or wet evidence of tears; use tearful for the feeling; use tear-streaked for visible trail marks; use weepy for a casual, emotional tone.

tearful ↗tear-streakedweepy

Common collocations

Nouns

Adverbs

Etymology

Old EnglishOld FrenchMiddle EnglishEnglish

The compound tear-stained joins the noun tear (a drop of liquid from the eye, from Old English tēar, of Germanic origin) with the past participle stained (from Middle English steinen, via Old French desteindre, meaning to discolour or mark). The combination has been used since at least the 1800s to describe visible traces left by crying on skin or objects.