heartbreak means overwhelming mental anguish or grief, especially that caused by loss or disappointment. Lexicurio rates it Rare gem — a strength score of 74 out of 100.
heartbreak is pronounced /ˈhɑːt.bɹeɪk/.
Why “heartbreak” is a great word
Overwhelming mental anguish or grief, especially that caused by loss or disappointment. From heart (the seat of emotion) + break (to fracture or shatter). First recorded in English 1575–85. Unlike “heartache,” which implies a persistent, aching sorrow, or “disappointment,” which denotes a sadness at unmet hopes, heartbreak is the catastrophic rupture of an inner world. It is the sound of a plate dropped on stone, the specific chill of an empty side of the bed, and the way a beloved’s handwriting on an envelope becomes a physical weight in the hand—the moment when a future you had built inside you ceases to be and becomes a past you must now carry.
Etymology
From heart + break. Compare heartache § Etymology.
noun
- Overwhelming mental anguish or grief, especially that caused by loss or disappointment.“So while Ralph generally seems to inhabit a different, more glorious and joyful universe than everyone else here his yearning and heartbreak are eminently relateable. Ralph sometimes appears to be a magically demented sprite who has assumed the form of a boy, but he’s never been more poignantly, nakedly, movingly human than he is here.”