heartfelt
Americanadjective
adjective
Etymology
Origin of heartfelt
Explanation
If something is heartfelt, it's sincere and warm. It's clear from your elderly neighbor's heartfelt invitation that she genuinely wants you to come over for tea and cookies. When you're profoundly grateful to your favorite teacher, you'll offer her your heartfelt thanks. And when your best friend's dog dies, you'll give him your heartfelt sympathy. Things that are heartfelt are deeply emotional, believed or felt very strongly. The word dates from the 18th century, from heart, with its Old English root heorte, "heart, spirit, or mind."
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.
Heartfelt tributes have been left on Brighton Beach for three women who died in the sea earlier in the week.
From BBC • May 15, 2026
Heartfelt tributes from family, friends, fans and colleagues of Cheslie Kryst have poured in after the trailblazing Miss USA pageant winner died Sunday at age 30.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 31, 2022
Heartfelt and gorgeously animated, this sun-kissed story is tender, sweet and funny, with clear messages about the importance of evaluating others for who they are, not their background or heritage.
From Washington Post • Dec. 27, 2021
Ms. Bardwell, who wrote “Salt-Rising Bread: Recipes and Heartfelt Stories of a Nearly Lost Appalachian Tradition” with Susan Ray Brown, will be baking bread in her kitchen in Pennsylvania during the talk.
From New York Times • Nov. 1, 2021
Heartfelt kindness and hospitality, seriousness and mirth in the family circle,—these characteristics of border life, when it is good, had all been transplanted into the western wilderness by these colonists.
From Woman on the American Frontier A Valuable and Authentic History of the Heroism, Adventures, Privations, Captivities, Trials, and Noble Lives and Deaths of the "Pioneer Mothers of the Republic" by Fowler, William Worthington
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.
