snivel vs tears

snivel and tears both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
snivel	Yes	No	Yes	No
tears	Yes	No	No	No

As nouns, tears is a hypernym of snivel; that is, tears is a word with a broader meaning than snivel:

snivel: whining in a tearful manner
tears: the process of shedding tears (usually accompanied by sobs or other inarticulate sounds)

Other hypernyms of snivel include crying, weeping.

snivel (noun)	tears (noun)
whining in a tearful manner	the process of shedding tears (usually accompanied by sobs or other inarticulate sounds)
the act of breathing heavily through the nose (as when the nose is congested)

snivel (verb)	tears (verb)
snuff up mucus through the nose
cry or whine with snuffling
talk in a tearful manner