crocodile tear
/ˈkɹɒ.kə.daɪl ˌtɪə(ɹ)/
crocodile tear noun: a tear shed insincerely, in a false display of sorrow or some other emotion.
Noun
crocodile tear (plural crocodile tears)
- A tear shed insincerely, in a false display of sorrow or some other emotion.
- At last he contrived to squeeze out one of his little hysterical tears, and drop it on her hand. Now, the girl was not butter, like some of her sex; far from it: but neither was she wood—indeed, she was not old enough for that—so this crocodile tear won her for the time being.1877, Charles Reade, chapter 2, in A Woman-Hater
- A display of tears that is forced or false.
- And in all her letters since, she had spoken of her aunt as a silly, vain, worldly woman, weeping crocodile tears, for an old husband whose death had released her from the tedium of his company.1864, Anthony Trollope, chapter 19, in Can You Forgive Her?
crocodile tear meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Bengali
crocodile tear in Hindi
- display of tears that is forced or false
- घड़ियाल के आँसू ghaṛiyāl ke ā̃sū, घड़ियाली आँसू ghaṛiyālī ā̃sū, नक्राश्रु nakrāśru, मगरमच्छ के आँसू magarmacch ke ā̃sū
crocodile tear in Tamil
- tear shed falsely
- நீலிக்கண்ணீர் nīlikkaṇṇīr, முதலைக்கண்ணீர் mutalaikkaṇṇīr
- display of tears that is forced or false
- நீலிக்கண்ணீர் nīlikkaṇṇīr, முதலைக்கண்ணீர் mutalaikkaṇṇīr
crocodile tear in Marathi
- display of tears that is forced or false
- नक्राश्रू nakrāśrū, मगरीचे अश्रू magrīce aśrū
crocodile tear in Bengali
- display of tears that is forced or false
- কুমিরের কান্না kumirer kanna
More languagesFewer languages
- crocodile tear in Telugu
- మొసలి కన్నీళ్లు mosali kannīḷlu, మొసలికన్నీరు mosalikannīru
- crocodile tear in Malayalam
- മുതലക്കണ്ണീർ mutalakkaṇṇīṟ
- crocodile tear in Kannada
- ಮೊಸಳೆ ಕಣ್ಣೀರು mosaḷe kaṇṇīru
- crocodile tear in Gujarati
- કૃત્રિમ આશ્વાસન kŕtrim āśvāsan, ઢોંગનાં કે જૂઠાં આંસુ ḍhoṅgnā̃ ke jūṭhā̃ ā̃su
- crocodile tear in Assamese
- কুমিৰৰ চকুলো kumiror sokulü
- crocodile tear in Tagalog
- luha ng buwaya
- crocodile tear in Arabic
- دُمُوع اَلتَّمَاسِيح dumūʕ at-tamāsīḥ
- crocodile tear in Malay
- air mata buaya
- crocodile tear in Indonesian
- air mata buaya
- crocodile tear in Persian
- اشک تمساح ašk-e temsâh
- crocodile tear in Thai
- น้ำตาจระเข้ nám-dtaa-jɔɔ-rá-kêe
- crocodile tear in Vietnamese
- nước mắt cá sấu
- crocodile tear in Myanmar
- မိကျောင်းမျက်ရည် mi.kyaung:myak-rany
Forms of crocodile tear
| plural | crocodile tears |
|---|
Origin of crocodile tear
From the ancient belief that crocodiles shed tears while consuming their prey.
Questions about crocodile tear
- What does crocodile tear mean?
- Crocodile tear means a tear shed insincerely, in a false display of sorrow or some other emotion.
- What is crocodile tear in Hindi?
- Crocodile tear in Hindi is घड़ियाल के आँसू (ghaṛiyāl ke ā̃sū), घड़ियाली आँसू (ghaṛiyālī ā̃sū), नक्राश्रु (nakrāśru). See Crocodile tear meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is crocodile tear?
- Crocodile tear is a noun.
- How do you pronounce crocodile tear?
- Crocodile tear is pronounced /ˈkɹɒ.kə.daɪl ˌtɪə(ɹ)/.
- What is the plural of crocodile tear?
- The plural of crocodile tear is crocodile tears.
Words near crocodile tear in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: crocodile tear (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-crocodile tear.ogg.
Cite this entry: “crocodile tear.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/crocodile_tear. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.