heartrending means that causes great grief, anguish or distress. It carries an Arena rating of 1654, earned across 11 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, heartrending ranks #1,982 of 17,127 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #2,920 of 17,134 for Most Malleable Words, #4,754 of 17,142 for Most Ingenious Words, #4,943 of 17,126 for Most Elegant Words.
Why “heartrending” is a great word
Causing or expressing intense grief, anguish, or distress. From heart (the seat of emotion) + rending (tearing apart). First recorded in 1680–90. Unlike 'heart-wrenching,' which implies a tortuous twisting of inner feelings, or 'poignant,' which emphasizes a keen, often bittersweet evocation, heartrending is a violent tearing asunder. It is the sound of a sob stifled in a silent room, the sight of a beloved’s final, uncomprehending glance, or the tangible void left in a child’s abandoned chair—the awful proof that some sorrows are not endured but anatomically suffered, a clean and brutal split of the spirit.
Etymology
From heart + rending.
adj
- That causes great grief, anguish or distress.e.g.“Near-synonyms: heartbreaking, heartwrenching”
- That elicits deep sympathy.e.g.“I am suddenly assaulted by the most heartrending puppy-dog eyes I've ever seen as Emi pouts.”
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Words closest in meaning
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