Miserable and is close to tears (12)
I believe the answer is:
disconsolate
'miserable' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'and is close to tears' is the wordplay.
'tears' indicates an anagram.
'and'+'is'+'close'+'to'='andiscloseto'
'andiscloseto' is an anagram of 'DISCONSOLATE'.
(Other definitions for disconsolate that I've seen before include "Very sad or disappointed" , "Low in spirits" , "Melancholy" , "Unhappy and impossible to comfort" , "Sad; beyond comfort" .)