Dictionary

cryfest en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (US) audio

Etymology

From cry + -fest.

Meanings

1. (informal) Something sad or moving, especially a film.
   • But if heartfelt, sensitive, talky, emotional cryfests have become scarce at the multiplex, we also have seen the rise of the He-Woman, the battling babe who can tote that gun and sling that punch and close that business deal. 2002 May 26, Dave Gathman, “Movie Review”, in The Beacon-News, Aurora, Illinois:
   • The Sin of Madelon Claudet was another hugely successful exemplar of the crime-and-punishment cryfests that shopgirls and housewives took to heart. 1999, Thomas Doherty, Pre-Code Hollywood: Sex, Immorality, and Insurrection in American Cinema, 1930-1934, Columbia University Press, →ISBN, page 130:
   • Main songwriter and pianist Dan Messé makes each song a regret-soaked cryfest, […] 2002, Tom Mallon, Rabbit Songs review, CMJ New Music Monthly, July 2002, page 42
2. (informal) An episode of intense crying.
   • Knowing that I had but seconds left before my kid exploded into a full-blown cryfest and knowing that I absolutely had to have an article of clothing that could camouflage baby barf, I raced to the register with my sapling tucked under my arm. 1997, Anne Voelckers Palumbo, The Stay-At-Home Mom's Survival Guide, White-Boucke Publishing, →ISBN, page 7:
   • Her eyes were raw and crusted from her big cryfest the day before, which had lasted late into the evening. 2011, Jennifer Ziegler, Sass & Serendipity, Ember, →ISBN, pages 65–66:
   • Tears were a part of who he was. But this wasn't the usual cryfest. It was a deluge. 2010, Gregg Olsen, A Twisted Faith: A Minister's Obsession and the Murder That Destroyed a Church, St. Martin's Press, →ISBN, page 234:

Forms

Synonyms

sobfest (something sad or moving) · sobfest (intense crying episode) · tearjerker (something sad or moving)