sweetheart
Americannoun
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sweethearts
plural
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either of a pair of lovers in relation to the other.
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(sometimes initial capital letter) an affectionate or familiar term of address.
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a beloved person.
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Informal. a generous, friendly person.
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Informal. anything that arouses loyal affection.
My old car was a real sweetheart.
noun
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a person loved by another
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informal a lovable, generous, or obliging person
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a term of endearment for a beloved or lovable person
adjective
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of sweetheart
First recorded in 1250–1300, sweetheart is from Middle English swete herte. See sweet, heart
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:
The guy I was crushing on helped me to my feet and became my college sweetheart.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 23, 2026
Steven, now 35 and married to his high school sweetheart with a toddler, is a partner at Arena Capital, a small real-estate private-equity firm that invests in the Hudson Valley.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 5, 2026
The Daily Express says a "childhood sweetheart" of Virginia Giuffre fears Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor's staff "won't cooperate" with police investigations.
From BBC ● Aug. 31, 2026
He’s married to his childhood sweetheart, has three adorable sons and a picture of his mother tattooed on his back.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2026
Married his high school sweetheart, became a salesman like his father.
From "Orphan Train" by Christina Baker Kline
People also meet their sweethearts in college or at jobs that require similar qualifications.
From MarketWatch ● Feb. 14, 2026
"It's here that we still meet our sweethearts, that we swap our numbers scribbled on little bits of paper," says fisherman Paulin Agbokounou.
From Barron's ● Feb. 13, 2026
Two childhood sweethearts have been reunited after more than 85 years thanks to an old school photograph.
From BBC ● Mar. 25, 2025
A family of country music sweethearts is adding another idol to the list.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 27, 2024
A little later it said, So long forever, old fellows and gals, so long forever old sweethearts and pals—God bless ’em—And so on.
From "Slaughterhouse-Five" by Kurt Vonnegut
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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.
