Definition

1. Adjective:

   • Heartbreaking; distressing: Describes a situation, event, or sight that causes intense emotional pain, sorrow, or pity.
   • Heart-sore; grieved: Describes the feeling of deep sadness, anguish, or distress experienced by a person.

2. Verb (less common):

   • To feel heartache; to be grieved: To experience deep emotional pain or sorrow.

Usage Examples

• Adjective:
  • Cảnh tượng đó thật đau lòng. (That sight is truly heartbreaking.)
  • Nghe tin ấy, bà ấy cảm thấy vô cùng đau lòng. (Upon hearing that news, she felt extremely heart-sore.)
• Verb:
  • Tôi đau lòng khi chứng kiến sự chia ly. (I feel deep grief witnessing the separation.)

Advanced Usage

• Often used to describe abstract nouns like (story), (truth), or (scene/sight).
  • Đó là một sự thật đau lòng. (That is a painful truth.)

Variants and Related Words

• Đau lòng (adj/verb): The primary form.
• Lòng đau (phrase): A poetic inversion, e.g., (My heart aches as if cut.)

Synonyms

• Heartbreaking (adj): Causing overwhelming distress.
• Distressing (adj): Causing anxiety, sorrow, or pain.
• Grievous (adj): Causing grief or sorrow.
• To grieve (verb): To feel deep sorrow.

Related Idioms

• Đau lòng xót dạ: To feel profound pain and pity in one's heart and gut; to be deeply afflicted.
  • Cảnh đói nghèo khiến ai nấy đau lòng xót dạ. (The scene of poverty makes everyone feel profound pity.)
• Nhức nhối trong lòng: To have a nagging pain in one's heart; a lingering sorrow.
  • Nỗi mất mát ấy vẫn nhức nhối trong lòng cô ấy. (That loss still causes a nagging pain in her heart.)

verb

1. to feel great arguish, to feel deep grief