Word.ws English Dictionary

turning on the waterworks

turning on the waterworks is the present participle and gerund of turn on the waterworks.

Meaning of turn on the waterworks

Verb

turn on the waterworks (third-person singular simple present turns on the waterworks, present participle turning on the waterworks, simple past and past participle turned on the waterworks)

  1. (figuratively, informal) To start crying, especially in an insincere or annoying way.

Questions about turning on the waterworks

What is turning on the waterworks the present participle and gerund of?
Turning on the waterworks is the present participle and gerund of turn on the waterworks.

Words near turning on the waterworks in the dictionary

  1. turning numbers
  2. turning off
  3. turning on
  4. turning on its head
  5. turning on one's heel
  6. turning on the waterworks
  7. turning one's back
  8. turning one's coat
  9. turning one's color
  10. turning one's life around
  11. turning one's life upside down

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: turning on the waterworks (page history and authors); turn on the waterworks (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.

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Cite this entry: “turning on the waterworks.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/turning_on_the_waterworks. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.