heartache.

Deep emotional pain, especially from loss, disappointment, or unhappy love.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• cause heartache
• years of heartache

On the page

The reunion brought more heartache than relief to those who remembered the parting.

Usage notes

Primary category: literary / elevated general. Forms: Usually uncountable; countable singular heartache, plural heartaches for separate painful experiences. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Established modern English lexical item. No separate regional spelling or grammatical inflection entry. Writing functions: description, character. Commonness: moderately common.