to shed crocodile tears
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
to show false or insincere sadness
Literally: cry like a crocodile
Examples
She shed crocodile tears at the funeral, but nobody believed she was really grieving.
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed on English Wikiquote “English proverbs” (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-31). Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “to shed crocodile tears” mean?
to show false or insincere sadness Literally: cry like a crocodile
Is “to shed crocodile tears” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.