Definition
A tear shed insincerely, in a false display of sorrow or some other emotion.
A display of tears that is forced or false.
Origins
From the ancient belief that crocodiles shed tears while consuming their prey.
In Context
- "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."
- "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."
See Also
- artificial tear
- hypocrisy
- insincerity
- turn on the waterworks
- white women tears