Heartrending

adj

adj ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    That causes great grief, anguish or distress.

    "[T]he old man, who appeared to be an ardent fisherman, told me of the large trout he caught in the neighbourhood thirty years ago, when he came here from Gudbrandsdale, and made the most heartrending complaints of the decrease of fish and increase of saw-dust, just as Sir Humphry Davy makes in his Salmonia."

  2. 2
    That elicits deep sympathy.

    "I am suddenly assaulted by the most heartrending puppy-dog eyes I've ever seen as Emi pouts."

Adjective
  1. 1
    causing or marked by grief or anguish wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
heartbreakingaffectingafflictiveagonizingcalamitousconsuming

Example

More examples

"When his wife died he was full of heartrending grief."

Etymology

From heart + rending.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.