heart-break

A child experiences heart-break after losing a beloved toy.

Definition

1. Noun:
   • Intense sorrow or grief: "heart-break" refers to overwhelming emotional pain and anguish, typically caused by the loss or end of a romantic relationship, a deep disappointment, or a profound personal tragedy.
   • A state of emotional devastation: "heart-break" describes a condition where one feels crushed or shattered emotionally, often accompanied by a sense of emptiness or despair.

Usage Examples

• Noun:
  • She suffered a terrible heart-break after her fiancé called off the wedding. (She experienced intense emotional pain due to a romantic loss.)
  • The heart-break of losing a beloved pet can last for months. (The profound grief caused by the death of a companion animal.)
  • His heart-break was evident in his quiet tears and withdrawn behaviour. (His emotional devastation was visible through his actions.)

Advanced Usage

• "to cause heart-break": to be the source of intense emotional pain for someone.

  • The betrayal caused him great heart-break. (The act of disloyalty brought him deep sorrow.)

• "to be filled with heart-break": to be consumed by feelings of sadness and loss.

  • The entire community was filled with heart-break after the tragic accident. (Everyone felt overwhelming grief.)

Variants and Related Words

• Heart-breaking (adj): causing intense sorrow or grief.

  • The film told a heart-breaking story of lost love. (The story provoked deep sadness.)

• Heart-broken (adj): suffering from intense emotional pain or grief.

  • She was heart-broken when her best friend moved away. (She felt devastated by the separation.)

• Heart-breaker (noun): a person who causes heart-break in others, often through romantic rejection or betrayal.

  • He was known as a heart-breaker, leaving a trail of broken relationships. (He repeatedly caused emotional pain in romantic partners.)

Synonyms

• Grief: deep sorrow, especially caused by someone's death.
• Anguish: severe mental or physical pain.
• Sorrow: a feeling of deep distress caused by loss or disappointment.

Phrasal Verbs

• Break someone's heart: to cause extreme emotional pain to someone, especially through rejection or disappointment.

  • It broke her heart to see him leave. (The sight caused her intense sorrow.)

• Get over a heart-break: to recover from intense emotional pain.

  • It took him a year to get over the heart-break of his divorce. (He gradually healed from the grief.)

Related Idioms

• A broken heart: a state of extreme sadness or grief, often from lost love.

  • She died of a broken heart after her husband passed away. (Her grief was so severe it was said to have caused her death.)

• Nursing a heart-break: deliberately focusing on and feeling one's grief, often with a sense of self-pity.

  • He spent the weekend at home, nursing his heart-break over the breakup. (He dwelled on his sorrow.)