Idiom
break someone's heart
Meaning
To cause a person to feel grief, disappointment, or sadness.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“Do not break her heart by leaving so soon.”
“He knew that ending their long relationship would break her heart, but he felt it was the only honest choice.”
“The sudden news of his departure served only to break her heart, leaving her to navigate the profound silence of their empty home alone.”
Examples
simple
“Do not break her heart by leaving so soon.”
contextual
“He knew that ending their long relationship would break her heart, but he felt it was the only honest choice.”
complex
“The sudden news of his departure served only to break her heart, leaving her to navigate the profound silence of their empty home alone.”
Origin
The idiom descends from the Middle English *breke (my) harte*. Its structure has remained fixed in the language since that period, serving as a plain compound of the verb and the noun.
Key words
Related idioms
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