tear

1. 1.

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

   “his story brought tears to her eyes”

   Synonymsteardrop

   Broaderdrop

   Part oflacrimal secretion
2. 2.

   an opening made forcibly as by pulling apart

   “there was a rip in his pants”

   “she had snags in her stockings”

   Synonymsriprentsnagsplit

   Broaderopening
3. 3.

   an occasion for excessive eating or drinking

   “they went on a bust that lasted three days”

   Synonymsbustbingebout

   Broaderrevel

   Narrowerpiss-up
4. 4.

   the act of tearing

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

   Broaderseparation

   Narrowerlacerationrent

Other forms of tear

plural

tears·

past tense or participle

tore

past tense or participle

torn

present participle

tearing·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about tear

What does tear mean?

tear means "separate or cause to separate abruptly". That is the primary sense; the word has 9 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in tear?

tear has 1 syllable: tear. In IPA it is /ˈtɛɹ/.

What is another word for tear?

Close synonyms include rupture, snap, bust, shoot, shoot down. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is tear a common word?

tear is banded "Common" — everyday vocabulary in speech and writing. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.

What rhymes with tear?

3 words rhyme with tear. Rhymes are matched on the phonemes from the last stressed vowel onward, which is the definition a reader has in their head.