heartbreaking

adj, noun — 2 senses

heartbreaking

adj

Etymology From heart + breaking.

1

That causes great grief, anguish or distress.

  • Near-synonyms: heartrending, heartwrenching
  • Things went well with the clearing on Friday, but by Saturday, February 3, a 70 m.p.h. blizzard set in, and against such heartbreaking conditions, although an effort was made with the plough to keep open the sections cleared on the previous day, ground was gradually lost, [...].1941 April, “Notes and News: Railwaymen and Snow”, in Railway Magazine, page 177:
1 more example
  • But even with these caveats, it remains a stunning and heartbreaking piece of cinema that strikes a particular chord with LGBTQ+ viewers.2025 June 20, Nick Levine, “'In every theatre, people would leave': How 'gay cowboy movie' Brokeback Mountain challenged Hollywood – and the US”, in BBC:
Derived terms
heartbreakingly, heartbreakingness

heartbreaking

noun

Etymology From heart + breaking.

1

The breaking of a heart; great grief, anguish or distress.

  • One could argue that Eliot's "great heartbreakings" were the overt physical signs of the inner psychological transformations achieved through brainwashing, cultural attack, and epidemic mortality.1999, Karen Gayton Swisher, John Tippeconnic, Next Steps: Research and Practice to Advance Indian Education, page 17:
Related terms
break someone's heart, heartbreak, heartbreaker, heartbroken

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.