Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

tired and emotional

Word Rarity Uncommon

Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.38 in modern English

Syllables: tired and e-mo-tion-al
IPA

21

Scrabble Score

17

Letters

4

Syllables

10

Unique Chars

Meaning

adj

British usage; Humorous

adj

Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see tired, emotional.

Example Sentences

"In 2008, after what you imagine was a tired and emotional dinner, the novelist Michel Houellebecq and the philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy determined to start writing to each other about the things that kept them awake at nights."
"There's nothing like a singalong with tired and emotional Lib Dems [headline]"
"Andy Murray was tired and emotional – in the old fashioned sense – after becoming the first player in the history of tennis at the Olympics to win back-to-back gold medals in Rio on Sunday night."

Etymology

First used by the British satirical magazine Private Eye in 1967, in a spoof diplomatic memo to describe the state of cabinet minister George Brown. It is now used as a stock phrase and euphemism to avoid litigation for libel, and the phrase has spread well beyond the magazine.

Usage

British usage
Humorous

Inflected Forms

more tired and emotional (comparative) most tired and emotional (superlative)

Synonyms

Adrian Quist adrip aled up all mops and brooms arseholed a sheet in the wind a sheet in the wind's eye bedrunken befuddled beliquored besotted besotten

Questions

What does tired and emotional mean?: Drunk.
Where does tired and emotional come from?: First used by the British satirical magazine Private Eye in 1967, in a spoof diplomatic memo to describe the state of cabinet minister George Brown. It is now used as a stock phrase and euphemism to avoid litigation for libel, and the phrase has spread well beyond the magazine.

How to pronounce tired and emotional

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “tired and emotional”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling () so you know which sounds to aim for.
Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “tired and emotional”.
Repeat and practice — Say “tired and emotional” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.