crocodile tear

Definitions

1. A tear shed insincerely, in a false display of sorrow or some other emotion.
   idiomatic
2. A display of tears that is forced or false.
   idiomatic, in-plural

Equivalents

Examples

“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.”

CEFR level