tearless

tearless — adjective

1. not crying or producing tears, especially when tears would normally be expected;

1.adjectiveC1
Definition

not crying or producing tears, especially when tears would normally be expected; describing a person who does not weep or a moment that happens without any crying

Example

Hugo gave a tearless speech at his father's funeral, though his voice shook.

tearless + noun: 'tearless speech'

The tearless farewell between the soldiers was more heartbreaking than any crying.

attributive use before farewell/goodbye

Common collocations
  • tearless farewell
  • tearless goodbye
  • tearless speech
  • tearless ceremony
  • remain tearless
  • stay tearless
  • keep a tearless expression
Synonyms
  • dry-eyed

    more common in everyday English; less literary tone

  • stoic

    broader meaning — enduring pain or hardship without showing emotion, not limited to tears

  • unmoved

    suggests a lack of emotional reaction altogether, not just the absence of tears

  • unweeping

    very rare and literary; restricted to poetic or old-fashioned writing

Antonyms
  • tearful

    direct opposite — producing or showing tears

  • weeping

    stronger and more dramatic than tearful

Grammar Patterns

tearless + noun

be + tearless

remain / stay + tearless

Usage Note

Often describes a person who controls their emotions in a situation where crying would be normal, such as a funeral or a difficult farewell. More common in written and literary English than in everyday conversation.

Common Mistakes

She was tearless at the wedding — crying with happiness.
She was tearful at the wedding
crying with happiness.' — 'tearless' means no tears; 'tearful' means full of tears.
The movie was so sad I was tearless by the end.
The movie was so sad I was in tears by the end.
'tearless' means without tears, so it does not fit a sad movie ending.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: adjective/1

All four words describe a lack of tears, but they differ in scope and tone. 'Dry-eyed' is the most neutral everyday alternative to 'tearless' and works in both speech and writing. 'Stoic' goes beyond tears to describe someone who endures hardship, pain, or disappointment without showing any emotion at all — it implies inner strength rather than just dry eyes. 'Unmoved' focuses on the absence of emotional response; a person can be tearless but still deeply affected, whereas someone who is unmoved feels nothing. 'Unweeping' is so rare and literary that it appears almost exclusively in poetry or historical texts. For example: 'She remained dry-eyed through the ceremony' sounds natural in a news report; 'She remained unweeping through the ceremony' would sound odd outside a 19th-century novel.

dry-eyedstoicunmoved ↗unweeping

Common collocations

Nouns

Etymology

Old EnglishMiddle EnglishEnglish

Formed within English by combining the noun 'tear' (a drop of water from the eye, from Old English 'tēar') with the suffix '-less' (meaning 'without', from Old English '-lēas'). The word has been recorded in English writing since at least the 16th century.