MEANING
Feeling intense sadness because of a painful loss, disappointment, or broken relationship.
Use it for
describing someone devastated by bereavement; showing deep sadness after a relationship ends; portraying grief after an irreversible loss; describing a person whose hopes have been painfully disappointedExpresses grief as a deeply painful personal state without restricting it to romantic disappointment. Writing functions: Sorrow / Grief.
Words that belong together
- a heartbroken parent
- leave someone heartbroken
- heartbroken at the news
On the page
Heartbroken, she folded his coat and returned it to the empty wardrobe.
The boy was heartbroken when the old dog failed to return.
Nearby words
Word forms
- Base
- heartbroken
Usage notes
Adjective: be or feel heartbroken; heartbroken at/over/about a loss. No verb conjugations; do not invent heartbrokener or heartbrokenest. Register: neutral. Commonness: common (dictionary-informed qualitative editorial estimate; not a measured frequency).
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
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