heart-rending
Adjective: - Causing intense sorrow or emotional pain; deeply distressing or heartbreaking. - "heart-rending" describes something that evokes profound grief, pity, or anguish, often through a narrative, image, or event.
- (The scenes were deeply distressing and evoked pity.)
- (Her cry expressed intense emotional pain.)
- (The conclusion is emotionally devastating.)
"heart-rending poverty": extreme poverty that causes great emotional pain to witnesses or victims.
- The charity focused on alleviating heart-rending poverty in rural areas. (The poverty was so severe it was emotionally painful to observe.)
"heart-rending plea": a desperate, emotional request.
- The mother's heart-rending plea for her missing child moved the entire community. (Her plea was filled with anguish and desperation.)
Heart-rendingly (adverb): in a manner that causes intense sorrow.
- The child cried heart-rendingly after losing his toy. (His crying was emotionally painful to hear.)
Heartrending (adjective): an alternate spelling of "heart-rending," with the same meaning.
- The heartrending story of the orphan touched everyone. (The story was deeply distressing.)
Heartbreaking: causing great sadness or disappointment.
- The loss was heartbreaking for the entire family. (It was emotionally devastating.)
Soul-crushing: causing extreme emotional or spiritual distress.
- The soul-crushing news left them in despair. (The news was profoundly depressing.)
Wrenching: causing mental or emotional pain.
- The wrenching farewell scene made everyone cry. (The farewell was emotionally painful.)
Tear at one's heartstrings: to evoke deep sympathy or sadness.
- The orphan's story tore at my heartstrings. (The story caused me great emotional pain.)
Break one's heart: to cause someone great sorrow.
- Seeing her in pain broke his heart. (It caused him intense emotional distress.)