- present participle of hearten.
heartening
Britishadjective
Explanation
Something heartening reassures or inspires you. You'll feel better after struggling with a long English essay when you read your teacher's heartening comments. If you're halfway through a marathon, the sight of your friends cheering you on is heartening. A shy new student will also find the warm welcome he gets from his classmates to be extremely heartening. This cheerful adjective comes from the verb hearten. "give confidence," or "encourage," which is rooted in a figurative sense of heart — to "give heart to" means "to give confidence to."
Vocabulary lists containing heartening
An Elephant in the Garden
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
Favorable
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
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.
Asked about the video footage of the snake on the Orange County beach, Crowell said it was heartening to see someone trying to help the sea snake.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 17, 2026
"I find it very heartening," 24-year-old Magnus Bjerg Sturm told AFP at the Social Democrats party at a Stockholm conference centre.
From Barron's ● Sep. 13, 2026
That something so bold can have the journey this film has had is even more heartening.
From Salon ● Aug. 24, 2026
"We didn't realise how wide the interest is; it's heartening to see that a lot of people care about this farm," said Hicks.
From BBC ● Jun. 30, 2026
It was heartening to see them there; my mother had journeyed all the way from the Transkei.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions 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.
