as in sorrow
deep sadness especially for the loss of someone or something loved
the heartache she felt when she saw the innocent victims of the war
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Recent Examples of heartache
Going through heartache, but also seeing each other succeed and ascend in this league.
—
Anthony Chiang, Miami Herald, 21 Oct. 2025
Running underneath all of our efforts was heartache, sorrow, and anxiety over her loss.
—Literary Hub, 14 Oct. 2025
Two games into the 2025-26 season, the heartache that the Sharks have felt in that area has only gotten worse.
—Curtis Pashelka, Mercury News, 12 Oct. 2025
With the country music landscape now punctuated by a generation of young songwriters laying bare personal trauma and intense heartache, Whitcomb wanted his first full-length to capture his life so far, darkness be damned.
—Josh Crutchmer, Rolling Stone, 11 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for heartache
Recent Examples of Synonyms for heartache
Noun
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Death, fear, and sorrow unify the disparate practices.—
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But grief will give you so much more than sorrow.—
Noun
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Ege, a 31-year-old special education teacher, ended up reaching out to the group Families for Safe Streets, whose members showed up at their apartment shortly after Musyoka’s death to help them through those initial days and weeks of grief.—
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We’re largely left to imagine her fears for an uncertain future, her grief for an unknown, unborn child and her thoughts on becoming a symbolic figure in the outside world, with another woman’s name to boot.—
Noun
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No adolescent defiance or child’s anguish was visible on his face now.—
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Some critics called for more editorial discipline in the film, or found Lawrence’s onscreen spin cycle of anguish, which involves literally clawing her way up walls or flinging herself through glass doors, to be repetitive.—
Noun
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Hundreds of people expressed their heartbreak at the news on social media, citing the drag queen bingo nights at the Cedar Room, live music and comedy and other programs that made the theater-going experience more fun.—
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The family’s heartbreak began when Sewell Setzer III died by suicide in February 2024.—
Cite this Entry
“Heartache.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/heartache. Accessed 13 Jan. 2026.
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