: a solid, liquid, or gaseous substance that on dispersion in the atmosphere irritates mucous membranes resulting especially in blinding of the eyes with tears and that is used chiefly (as by the police and the military) to disperse large crowds of people
variants
or tear gas
or less commonly teargas
tear-gassed or tear gassed also teargassed; tear-gassing or tear gassing also teargassing; tear-gases or tear gasses also teargasses
: to use tear gas on
The troops then tear-gassed the crowd of several hundred, mostly teenagers and young men, which scattered in great confusion, but re-formed later.—
Roger Daniels
Roger DanielsExamples of tear gas in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the WebDivya Kumar, Miami Herald, 8 May 2024
Some of these young people rediscovered the physical world during the protests that ran throughout the summer of 2020, and many of them witnessed police brutality, tear gas, and other forms of coercion.
—Jay Caspian Kang, The New Yorker, 3 May 2024
The jury also convicted one of the defendants, 27-year-old Brian Cortez Lightfoot, of five additional counts of use of tear gas not in self-defense, but ended up hung on nine counts of assault.
—Alex Riggins, San Diego Union-Tribune, 3 May 2024
Journalists and protest organizers say fireworks and tear gas were used.
—Suzanne Nuyen, NPR, 2 May 2024
People were handing out respirators, masks and buckets to fill with water if needed to flush tear gas from eyes.
—Caroline Petrow-Cohen, Los Angeles Times, 2 May 2024
Police in Istanbul used tear gas and fired rubber bullets to disperse thousands of people who tried to break through a barricade and reach the main Taksim square in defiance of a ban on celebrating Labor Day there.
—Mehmet Guzel and Hyung-Jin Kim, The Christian Science Monitor, 1 May 2024
That led to a more than three-hour-long effort to clear the Flagstaff campus, which included arrests of around 20 people and reports of tear gas being used on protesters.
—Sarah Lapidus, The Arizona Republic, 1 May 2024
They were greeted at the Dearborn border with clouds of tear gas, jets of cold water and a shower of bullets.
—Paul Draus, The Conversation, 1 Mar. 2024
Lauren Lassabe Shepherd, The Conversation, 26 Apr. 2024
Officers batter protesters with plastic shields, and noxious plumes rise from the street where tear-gas canisters have been deployed.
—David Peisner, Rolling Stone, 24 Mar. 2024
Jean Marc Jean, 37, a freelance journalist, was covering antigovernment protests last month when a police tear-gas canister hit his left eye.
—Frances Robles, New York Times, 17 Mar. 2024
One of his earliest memories was of being rushed away by his dad from a tear-gas canister that landed near him.
—Rozina Ali, New York Times, 28 Feb. 2024
The authorities have blocked the social media accounts of some protest leaders and even used drones that were once billed as an agricultural innovation to drop tear-gas grenades on the demonstrators.
—Suhasini Raj, New York Times, 14 Feb. 2024
Outside Julia’s apartment, the detritus of protests littered the street—tipped-over trash cans, twisted metal barricades, expended tear-gas canisters.
—Elliot Ackerman, WIRED, 8 Feb. 2024
Matter protesters in Ferguson, Missouri, and provided them with tips on dealing with tear-gas inhalation.
—Emma Green, The New Yorker, 15 Dec. 2023
Flooding, tear-gas, and other tools can also be critical when fighting in tunnels, basements, or interior spaces.
—David Kilcullen, Foreign Affairs, 23 Oct. 2023
Noun
The law enforcement response at USF included the use of tear gas.
—Divya Kumar, Miami Herald, 8 May 2024
Some of these young people rediscovered the physical world during the protests that ran throughout the summer of 2020, and many of them witnessed police brutality, tear gas, and other forms of coercion.
—Jay Caspian Kang, The New Yorker, 3 May 2024
The jury also convicted one of the defendants, 27-year-old Brian Cortez Lightfoot, of five additional counts of use of tear gas not in self-defense, but ended up hung on nine counts of assault.
—Alex Riggins, San Diego Union-Tribune, 3 May 2024
Journalists and protest organizers say fireworks and tear gas were used.
—Suzanne Nuyen, NPR, 2 May 2024
People were handing out respirators, masks and buckets to fill with water if needed to flush tear gas from eyes.
—Caroline Petrow-Cohen, Los Angeles Times, 2 May 2024
Police in Istanbul used tear gas and fired rubber bullets to disperse thousands of people who tried to break through a barricade and reach the main Taksim square in defiance of a ban on celebrating Labor Day there.
—Mehmet Guzel and Hyung-Jin Kim, The Christian Science Monitor, 1 May 2024
That led to a more than three-hour-long effort to clear the Flagstaff campus, which included arrests of around 20 people and reports of tear gas being used on protesters.
—Sarah Lapidus, The Arizona Republic, 1 May 2024
They were greeted at the Dearborn border with clouds of tear gas, jets of cold water and a shower of bullets.
—Paul Draus, The Conversation, 1 Mar. 2024
Verb
Hundreds of student and faculty arrests, with nonviolent dissenters thrown to the ground, tear-gassed and tased.
—Lauren Lassabe Shepherd, The Conversation, 26 Apr. 2024
Officers batter protesters with plastic shields, and noxious plumes rise from the street where tear-gas canisters have been deployed.
—David Peisner, Rolling Stone, 24 Mar. 2024
Jean Marc Jean, 37, a freelance journalist, was covering antigovernment protests last month when a police tear-gas canister hit his left eye.
—Frances Robles, New York Times, 17 Mar. 2024
One of his earliest memories was of being rushed away by his dad from a tear-gas canister that landed near him.
—Rozina Ali, New York Times, 28 Feb. 2024
The authorities have blocked the social media accounts of some protest leaders and even used drones that were once billed as an agricultural innovation to drop tear-gas grenades on the demonstrators.
—Suhasini Raj, New York Times, 14 Feb. 2024
Outside Julia’s apartment, the detritus of protests littered the street—tipped-over trash cans, twisted metal barricades, expended tear-gas canisters.
—Elliot Ackerman, WIRED, 8 Feb. 2024
Matter protesters in Ferguson, Missouri, and provided them with tips on dealing with tear-gas inhalation.
—Emma Green, The New Yorker, 15 Dec. 2023
Flooding, tear-gas, and other tools can also be critical when fighting in tunnels, basements, or interior spaces.
—David Kilcullen, Foreign Affairs, 23 Oct. 2023
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'tear gas.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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Cite this Entry
“Tear gas.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tear%20gas. Accessed 12 May. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
teargas
1 of 2 verb
tear·gas
ˈti(ə)r-ˌgas 
: to use tear gas on
tear gas
2 of 2 noun
: any of various substances that cause eye irritation and blind the eyes with tears when released into the air and that are used mostly to scatter mobs
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