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heartbreak

heartbreak

76 3.9
A very strong sadness after losing someone you love
  • noun
  • /ˈhɑrtˌbreɪk/
translation icon : desconsuelo
  • After the breakup, she felt a deep heartbreak that lasted for weeks.

If you're experiencing loss, grief, heartbreak, this clip is for you.

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Examples

  • The heartbreak of losing a loved one is often hard to bear.

  • If you're experiencing loss, grief, heartbreak, this clip is for you.

  • The loss, the heartbreak, people just trying to get by.

  • Just I understand so well the heartbreak of that goodbye.

  • The one advantage we have when it comes to heartbreak is time.

  • Part of his current heartbreak is the result of being taken from the home he loved.

    Academic text (2001)
  • And that is a lot of the heartbreak of poverty.

  • It's about feeling something and feeling heartbreak and disappointment and being alone.

  • A very real heartbreak about the way her eyes grew distant at that moment.

    Fiction book (2001)
  • My thoughts are, it's always been about heartbreak or struggles.

Synonyms

pain
vsheartbreak
1.8

A deep sad feeling caused by losing someone or something

is a specific intense sorrow mainly caused by losing a loved one
grief
vsheartbreak
443 2.1

Deep sadness after you lose someone or something important

is the same deep sorrow but highlights emotional pain from losing a loved one
sadness
vsheartbreak
229 1.0

A feeling of being unhappy

is a much stronger form tied especially to losing a loved one
heartache
vsheartbreak
79 4.8

Strong emotional pain you feel after losing someone or when love fails

is intense pain tied specifically to losing a loved one
broken heart
vsheartbreak
64 3.4

Deep sadness and pain you feel after losing or being rejected by someone you love

is the same deep pain, especially when caused by a loved one's loss
devastation
vsheartbreak
13 5.8

A feeling of extreme sadness and shock after a big loss

is intense sorrow too but usually without the shock element
bereavement
vsheartbreak
11 7.0

A period of deep sadness after someone close dies

is about intense emotional pain especially from losing someone close, not just the state
deep sorrow
vsheartbreak
4 3.7

A very strong feeling of sadness after a great loss

is similar but specifically linked to the loss of someone loved
mournfulness
vsheartbreak
1 6.5

A deep, quiet feeling or look of sadness

points to strong pain with a clear cause, the loss of someone loved
brokenheartedness
vsheartbreak
7.5

Deep sadness after losing someone you love

focuses on strong pain especially when a loved one is lost
heartsickness
vsheartbreak
8.3

A deep, painful sadness from missing someone or something

is similar but more strictly about pain from losing a loved one
unfathomable grief
vsheartbreak
8.7

Very deep sadness that feels too strong to understand

is intense pain but more commonly describable and tied to a loved one's loss
sorrowfulness
vsheartbreak
6.3

A deep feeling of sadness about a loss

is the acute, intense form of that sadness after losing a loved one

Antonyms

joy
793 1.0

A strong feeling of great happiness

440 1.0

A feeling of comfort when pain or worry goes away

Idioms

Heartbreak Hotel
  • Informal
1 8.2

A state of deep sadness people feel after a romantic breakup

Compounds

9.9

A long, very painful time after a big emotional loss

How Painful

despair
210 3.5
devastation
13 5.8
heartbreak
76 3.9
sorrow
243 2.1
disappointment
223 1.7

Surface Forms

heartbreak singular
heartbreaks plural

Morphology

heartbreak = heart + break (transparent) = heart + break

The compound denotes the 'breaking' of the heart (emotional pain), a straightforward metaphor easily inferred from 'heart' + 'break'.

Etymology

Heartbreak comes from joining heart and break, where heart means the place of strong feelings and break means 'to break'. So imagine your heart being 'broken' like a fragile thing, and you get the picture of deep emotional pain after losing someone you love.