heartache
Americannoun
-
heartaches
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of heartache
before 1000; Middle English hert ache, Old English heort ece; see heart, ache
Explanation
The death of your beloved cat may cause you heartache, or a powerful feeling of loss and sadness. Heartache is often caused by the grief of losing someone you love. Although it doesn't necessarily cause physical discomfort, heartache is an emotionally painful experience. You feel heartache when you lose a loved one, especially when the person you love dies, or when it's impossible for you to be together. Shakespearean tragedies are famously full of heartache. The root of heartache is the Old English heortece, which originally meant a literal "physical pain in the heart," and later came to mean "anguish."
Vocabulary lists containing heartache
Vocabulary from Langston Hughes's "Jazz as Communication"
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American Street
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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:
Australian rescue expert Arnold Dix, who has been supporting the operation remotely, told AFP that the rescue efforts were "back in miracle country" after a "week of 24/7 heartache".
From Barron's ● Sep. 4, 2026
In such moments, Ms. Smith offers her own translation of the strange and specific vocabulary of heartache.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026
For years, I would come home from figure-skating practice bruised from falling, exhausted from trying not to fall and tender from the ambient heartache of being a teenager.
From Salon ● Jul. 28, 2026
Still, she never really gives away the details of what caused her parents such heartache.
From BBC ● Jul. 18, 2026
He stayed no longer, but took his heartache home, and found the robust suitors there at work, skinning goats and roasting pigs in the courtyard.
From "The Odyssey" by Homer
Readers uninvested in Mr. Fukuyama’s crusade to vindicate himself—and to put naysayers in their place—will wish he’d spent more time on the details and heartaches of Japanese-American life in the years surrounding the war.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 8, 2026
“No Other Land” superbly compresses four years into a series of heartaches that slowly escalate in severity.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 7, 2025
It sure was great — despite numerous stumbles, obstacles and heartaches — while it lasted.”
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 20, 2023
"Mo" marks the first time American audiences get an honest glimpse into the life of a Palestinian American family living in Houston, complete with all laughs, heartaches, struggles and joys that it entails.
From Salon ● Sep. 8, 2022
“Some heartaches never quite heal, do they?” she said quietly.
From "Hope Springs" by Jaime Berry
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.
