sweetheart
Americannoun
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sweethearts
plural
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either of a pair of lovers in relation to the other.
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(sometimes initial capital letter) an affectionate or familiar term of address.
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a beloved person.
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Informal. a generous, friendly person.
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Informal. anything that arouses loyal affection.
My old car was a real sweetheart.
noun
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a person loved by another
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informal a lovable, generous, or obliging person
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a term of endearment for a beloved or lovable person
adjective
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of sweetheart
First recorded in 1250–1300, sweetheart is from Middle English swete herte. See sweet, heart
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Steven, now 35 and married to his high school sweetheart with a toddler, is a partner at Arena Capital, a small real-estate private-equity firm that invests in the Hudson Valley.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 5, 2026
“He was a top of the line up hitter with a humble attitude in the 3 years he played against him. Rest in Peace sweetheart and endless prayers for his family.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 20, 2026
He married his college sweetheart, with whom he would have triplet sons, and joined Exxon as a research engineer in Tulsa, Okla., in 1963.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 10, 2026
She married her college sweetheart Larry King in 1965 and they divorced in 1987.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 19, 2026
"Poor thing. Help us out, sweetheart, so we can call your parents. Surely someone's going crazy looking for you."
From "The Sky at Our Feet" by Nadia Hashimi
She said she and Fox were "childhood sweethearts" who were planning to get married, which happened while he was in a coma in hospital.
From BBC ● Apr. 24, 2026
People also meet their sweethearts in college or at jobs that require similar qualifications.
From MarketWatch ● Feb. 14, 2026
"It's here that we still meet our sweethearts, that we swap our numbers scribbled on little bits of paper," says fisherman Paulin Agbokounou.
From Barron's ● Feb. 13, 2026
“Apples float, and as the girls’ potential sweethearts ducked to catch the fruit with their teeth, future couplings were determined — or foretold.”
From Salon ● Oct. 21, 2025
“Listen, I’d better hurry up and start turning myself into adorable old Mother Paula. Can one of you sweethearts please fetch my suitcase out of the limo?”
From "Hoot" by Carl Hiaasen
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
