heart-breakingn.
/ˈhɑːtˌbreɪkɪŋ/, U.S. /ˈhɑrtˌbreɪkɪŋ/ (A feeling or occasion of) intense or overwhelming sorrow or emotional distress; an instance of this. Also: an event, experience, or situation that causes heartbreak.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > suffering > mental anguish or torment > broken-heartedness > [noun] > heartbreaking
heartsorea1200
heart-breaking1574
heartbreak1583
1574 B. Rich Right Exelent Dialogue Mercury & Eng. Souldier sig. L.i. The Lady seeing hir selfe discharged of a great hartebreaking,..began nowe more familiarly and boldly to intertayne and imbrace hir Doctor.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Antony & Cleopatra (1623) i. ii. 65 It is a heart-breaking to see a handsome man loose-Wiu'd. View more context for this quotation
a1617 J. Melville Mem. Own Life (1683) 56 They took them to the fields to her Majesties great dissatisfaction, and heart-breaking.
1714 T. Lucas Mem. Most Famous Gamesters & Sharpers 249 She..had not only jilted her Husband, but also a great many other Persons of Quality, (which was the Heart breaking of her noble Consort).
?1790 S. Pattison Orig. Poems 248 What inconsolable anguish and heart-breakings would this occasion!
1849 J. Ruskin Seven Lamps Archit. ii. 49 The record of..trials, and heartbreakings—of recoveries and joyfulnesses of success.
1886 C. H. Spurgeon Treasury of David VII. Ps. cxli. 5 Head-breaking and heart-breaking attend the anointings of the riotous.
1909 Atlantic Monthly July 45/2 Who knows what happened there, what wrongs, what heart-breakings due to slavery?
1989 N.Y. Mag. 6 Feb. 86/3 The parallel leave-takings and heart-breakings of a sad-sack Arkansas sheriff..and his wayward wife.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2013; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1574