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:
Foster told the court: "The heartache that we have gone through is immense."
From BBC ● Jul. 28, 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
Argentina prevailed on penalties to provide yet more World Cup heartache for the Three Lions.
From BBC ● Jul. 15, 2026
The LP is a 13-song project that delves into the complicated heartache of leaving home; what does it mean to break away from the nest where one was raised?
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 1, 2026
The drums of war had not yet silenced the laughter of the harvesters, but Aziz felt the first pinch of heartache when her father didn’t return on the appointed day.
From "Everything Sad Is Untrue" by Daniel Nayeri
Robert Louis Stevenson had a unique ability to capture young imaginations while touching on adult hopes and heartaches.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 3, 2025
McIlroy's win is both the most significant achievement of his 18-year professional career and the culmination of a journey that has forced him to rebound from a series of major championship heartaches.
From BBC ● Apr. 13, 2025
“It tells me that all the time, effort, heartaches, soccer trainings, tournaments, bad and good days were totally worth it.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 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
That she could have lived quietly and saved everyone the heartaches that would come.
From "Everything Sad Is Untrue" by Daniel Nayeri
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.
