strappalacrime
Parola del giorno | Word of the day
Today's Parola del Giorno is the invariable adjective1, strappalàcrime, which means tear-jerker. 2
This adjective usually refers to books, stories, or movies, but it is often used ironically to describe other things (it was used to describe a letter of resignation written by Sandro Bondi, Minister of Culture in one of the former Berlusconi governments).
Note in Italian how the adjective modifies a noun, but in English we drop the noun and just use tear-jerker.
See the context below:
Un film strappalacrime per me è ET di Steven Spielberg! Ho scoppiato a piangere quando ET è finalmente tornato a casa!
A tear-jerker for me is Steve Spielberg's ET! I burst into tears when ET finally went home!
Remember that invariable adjectives are the same for either gender and for both singular and plural nouns.
Note the placement of the accent on the last ‘a’ in the word!