lachrymal means connected with weeping or tears. It carries an Arena rating of 1383, earned across 3 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, lachrymal ranks #1,561 of 17,130 for Most Beautiful Words, #4,918 of 17,143 for Best Fossil-Poetry Words, #5,412 of 17,149 for Most Exacting Words, #5,700 of 17,131 for Scariest Words.
lachrymal is pronounced /ˈlak.ɹɪm.əl/.
Why “lachrymal” is a great word
Relating to or connected with tears or the glands that produce them. From Medieval Latin lachrymālis, from Latin lacrima ("a tear") + -ālis (adjectival suffix). Unlike "lacrimal" (the sterile term of the clinic) or "lachrymose" (which describes a weepy temperament), lachrymal pertains to the silent architecture of sorrow: the saline chemistry of the ducts, the cool glass of an antique vial designed to catch such overflow, or the delicate canal that drains grief from the corner of the eye. It is the physical fact of the emotion, the body's quiet, biological acknowledgment of a wound that may otherwise remain unseen.
Etymology
Borrowed from Medieval Latin lachrymālis, from lachryma (“a tear”) + -ālis (“-al”, adjectival suffix). Doublet of lacrimal.
adj
- Connected with weeping or tears.
noun
- A lachrymatory (vase intended for collecting tears).
- Lachrymal feelings or organs.e.g.“It is truly melancholy to see so many minds employed in catering for the risibles and lachrymals of weak men and silly women” — 1843, “Habits of Reading”, in The Mother's Magazine:
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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