Meaning & use
heartbreaking
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Meanings
adjectivecomparable
Causing deep sadness or sorrow.
Grammar: Can be used before a noun or after a verb: a heartbreaking story, the news was heartbreaking.
Patterns
- heartbreaking news
- heartbreaking to watch
- heartbreaking that
It was heartbreaking to see the family lose their home.
The film ends with a heartbreaking farewell.
Her heartbreaking story moved the whole audience.
adjectivebefore a noun
Showing something so poignant or sad that it affects you emotionally.
Grammar: Often modifies stories, scenes, choices or images.
Patterns
- a heartbreaking choice
- heartbreaking scenes
The photographs showed heartbreaking scenes of the flood.
He faced a heartbreaking choice between two jobs.
The documentary contains heartbreaking images of abandoned animals.
Word forms
| comparative | more heartbreaking |
|---|---|
| superlative | most heartbreaking |
Common combinations
- heartbreaking news
- We got heartbreaking news about our neighbor.
- heartbreaking story
- The reporter told a heartbreaking story.
- heartbreaking loss
- The team suffered a heartbreaking loss in overtime.
- heartbreaking to see
- It was heartbreaking to see the empty classroom.
- heartbreaking decision
- Selling the farm was a heartbreaking decision.
Synonyms and how they differ
- devastating
- Devastating is stronger and suggests overwhelming damage, while heartbreaking focuses on sorrow.
- tragic
- Tragic often describes events of serious loss, while heartbreaking describes the emotional effect.
- poignant
- Poignant suggests a gentle, touching sadness, while heartbreaking is more painful.
- sad
- Sad is the general word and much weaker than heartbreaking.
Opposites
Word family
- heartbreak noun
- overwhelming sadness, usually from loss or lost love
- heartbroken adjective
- feeling deep sadness
- heartbreaker noun
- someone or something that causes heartbreak
- heartbreakingly adverb
- in a way that causes deep sadness
Commonly confused: heartbreaking or heartbroken?
heartbreaking vs heartbroken
Heartbroken describes the person who feels the sadness, whereas heartbreaking describes the thing that causes it.
Practice
The news that the shelter was closing was ___ for the volunteers.
Choose one answer.
Heartbreaking describes something that causes deep sadness. Heartbroken would describe the people feeling it, and heartwarming is the opposite.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “heartbreaking”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.