heartrending
Americanadjective
Other Word Forms
- heartrendingly adverb
Etymology
Origin of heartrending
First recorded in 1680–90; heart + rending ( def. )
Explanation
Something heartrending is heartbreaking: it causes grief and sadness. The heart is the organ associated with emotions, and to rend something is to tear it, so heartrending things tear up your heart: not literally, but because they make you sad. The death of a friend or loved one is heartrending. Getting a terrible disease like cancer is heartrending. A tragic story can be heartrending if it makes you feel for the people involved. Anything that makes you cry is probably heartrending.
Vocabulary lists containing heartrending
A Lesson Before Dying
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The Wind in the Willows
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Echo
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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.
Maximize the heartening and heartrending, and you’ll stand to maximize the viewer’s compassion, too.
From Salon • Apr. 26, 2026
His appearance, stopping them in their tracks, is one of the most heartrending moments of any movie.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 8, 2026
Prime Minister Narendra Modi called it "absolutely heartrending" and Kohli said he was "at a loss for words" after the tragedy.
From Barron's • Nov. 6, 2025
Pensive, melodic, uplifting, and heartrending – it's his best album yet.
From BBC • Feb. 16, 2025
Finally, after one last doctor’s appointment full of heartrending phrases—low-motility sperm; inhospitable womb; conception likely impossible—they’d decided to adopt.
From "Little Fires Everywhere" by Celeste Ng
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.
