break someone's heart

1. Cause severe emotional pain or grief. For example, If the verdict is guilty, it will break her mother's heart. This hyperbole has appeared in works by Chaucer, Shakespeare, and George Bernard Shaw, among others. In noun form it appears as both a broken heart and heartbreak (Shaw wrote a play entitled Heartbreak House, 1913). Today it also is used ironically, as in You only scored an A-minus on the final? That breaks my heart! [Late 1300s]

Example Sentences

“It’s easy to forget that, even for a writer who prizes empathy. Sometimes even a brief story — or a hastily written review — can break someone’s heart for a long, long time.”

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"Just thinking about Tyler and Jed, so many feelings are in each relationship. I know that I’m loved deeply by both men. I know that I’ll break someone’s heart."

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What’s the best, kindest way to break someone’s heart?

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In all of my scheming before Joe, I had never conceived of a situation in which I would have the power to break someone’s heart.

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Because, hey, why break someone’s heart once when you can do it twice?

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