heartbreak
n.a feeling of very deep sadness and pain. You usually feel this when a relationship ends or when you lose someone you love.
n.overwhelming distress or sorrow, typically resulting from the end of a romantic relationship or the loss of a loved one.
“It took her months to recover from the heartbreak of the breakup.”
“The movie captures the quiet heartbreak of a family forced to leave their home during the war.”
“While time eventually dulls the sharpest edges of heartbreak, the memory of such profound loss often leaves a permanent mark on one's emotional landscape.”
Uncountable when referring to the general state of sorrow; countable when referring to a specific instance or event.
“But what followed was three years of heartbreak when Hayley suffered a placental abruption at 19 weeks pregnant and was told her baby boy, who they had named Oscar, had died.”
“When we found out she passed away, it was such a heartbreak to all of us.”
From heart + break. Compare heartache § Etymology.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.