cực lòng
Definition
- Adjective:
- Heart-wrenching / Heart-sore: Describes a state of deep emotional pain, distress, or anguish, often caused by sympathy for another's suffering or by a difficult, helpless situation.
- Pained / Grieved: Feeling profound sorrow or regret, typically because one is forced to witness hardship or is unable to help.
Usage Examples
- Adjective:
- Thấy con khóc, mẹ cực lòng. (Seeing her child cry, the mother was heart-sore.)
- Ông ấy cực lòng khi phải từ chối giúp đỡ. (He was pained when he had to refuse to help.)
- Câu chuyện của họ khiến ai nghe cũng cực lòng. (Their story is heart-wrenching to anyone who hears it.)
Advanced Usage
- Often used to describe the emotional state of a bystander or a loved one who feels acute distress on behalf of someone else. It emphasizes a sense of helpless compassion or internal conflict.
Variants and Related Words
Thương xót (v): to pity, to feel compassion for.
- Cô ấy thương xót hoàn cảnh của đứa trẻ. (She pitied the child's circumstances.)
Đau lòng (adj): heartbroken, sorrowful (can be used more broadly for personal or witnessed sorrow).
- Cảnh tượng đó thật đau lòng. (That sight is truly heart-breaking.)
Synonyms
- Heartbroken: overwhelmed by grief or disappointment.
- Distressed: suffering from anxiety, sorrow, or pain.
- Grieved: feeling great sorrow, especially due to a loss.
Related Idioms
Cực lòng chẳng nói nên lời: So heart-wrenched one cannot speak.
- Nghe tin dữ, bà cực lòng chẳng nói nên lời. (Hearing the bad news, she was so distressed she couldn't speak.)
Thấy cảnh cực lòng: To see a scene that wrenches one's heart.
- Ai thấy cảnh ấy cũng cực lòng. (Anyone who sees that scene finds it heart-wrenching.)