heartbreaking
/ˈhɑːtbreɪkɪŋ
/adjective
Causing overwhelming distress; very upsetting: it would be heartbreaking to see it all collapse...
- It's tragic and heartbreaking, but it should not be considered a point of debate.
- Speaking as a father of a young son and a daughter, I find this heartbreaking and tragic.
- It was so heartbreaking to see lots of people traumatised by the war and living in bombed out buildings.
Synonyms
distressing, upsetting, disturbing, heart-rending, sad, tragic, painful, saddening, traumatic, agonizing, desolating, harrowing, excruciating;
pitiful, piteous, poignant, plaintive, affecting, moving, tear-jerking
rare distressful
Derivatives
heartbreakingly
/ adverb [as submodifier]: the children’s expectations were heartbreakingly wrong...
- Both jobs offer all the possibilities in the world, including fame, success, travel and personal achievement, but things can also go terribly, heartbreakingly wrong if the young hopefuls are rejected.
- An apologia, even when desperately, heartbreakingly wrong, is a sort of bridge between evil and good, an acknowledgement that there is something here that needs explaining.
- Every word of this story was heartbreakingly true, and it pains me to think that all the terrible things I saw happening there during my four years of high school didn't magically cease to occur after I graduated and went to college.
- resting potential
- resting room
- resting staff
- resting stage
- resting tremor
- restio
- restipulate
- restipulation
- restitch
- restitute
- restitutio ad integrum
- restitutio in integrum
- restitution
- restitutionary
- Restitutionism
- Restitutionist
- restitution nucleus
- restitution suit
- restitutive
- restitutor
- restitutory
- restive
- restively
- restiveness
- rest (lay) on one's oars