heartache

[hahrt-eyk]

noun

1. emotional pain or distress; sorrow; grief; anguish.

heartache

/ ˈhɑːtˌeɪk /

noun

1. intense anguish or mental suffering

Other Word Forms

• heartaching adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of heartache¹

before 1000; Middle English hert ache, Old English heort ece; heart, ache

Example Sentences

She resisted the temptation to make the lyrics more explicitly autobiographical, reasoning that grief and heartache are intrinsically linked.

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It was a venture that would capture the changing face of football while ending in heartache.

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The work in question, “Nobody’s Girl,” fits into a tradition of great heartache albums.

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She’ll sublimate her own romantic heartache in urban renewal and other good works.

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Underneath that performance of normalcy, however, lies a deeper heartache, a deeper injury, that we keep carefully contained, sensing that if we let it fully surface, it might overwhelm us.

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Related Words

• agony 
• bitterness 
• despair 
• grief 
• heartbreak 
• misery 
• pang 
• sadness 
• suffering 
• torment