heartbreaking

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See also: heart-breaking

English

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Etymology

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From heart +‎ breaking.

Adjective

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heartbreaking (comparative more heartbreaking, superlative most heartbreaking)

  1. That causes great grief, anguish or distress.
    • 1941 April, “Notes and News: Railwaymen and Snow”, in Railway Magazine, page 177:
      Things went well with the clearing on Friday, but by Saturday, February 3, a 70 m.p.h. blizzard set in, and against such heartbreaking conditions, although an effort was made with the plough to keep open the sections cleared on the previous day, ground was gradually lost, [...].

Derived terms

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Translations

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Noun

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heartbreaking (plural heartbreakings)

  1. The breaking of a heart; great grief, anguish or distress.
    • 1999, Karen Gayton Swisher, John Tippeconnic, Next Steps: Research and Practice to Advance Indian Education, page 17:
      One could argue that Eliot's "great heartbreakings" were the overt physical signs of the inner psychological transformations achieved through brainwashing, cultural attack, and epidemic mortality.
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