Meanings
comparative more heartsick · superlative most heartsick
- Very despondent or sorrowful; heartsore.
I stood close to heartsick mourners and worried that I would not sustain the enormousness of their spiritual weight.
2024 September 17, Lauren DePino, “I Sang at Hundreds of Funerals. This Is What I Learned About Grief.”, in The New York Times MagazineSynonyms: miserable, unhappy, atrabiliary, atrabilious, blitheless, dispirited, blue, bummed out
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveVery despondent or sorrowful; heartsore.
More synonyms by meaning
adjectivefull of sorrow
adjectivewithout or almost without hope
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*ḱerd-
- Proto-Indo-European*ḱérd
- Proto-Germanic*hertô
- Proto-West Germanic*hertā
- Old Englishheorte
- Middle Englishherte
- Englishheart
- Proto-Germanic*seukaną
- Proto-Germanic*seukaz
- Proto-West Germanic*seuk
- Old Englishsēoc
- Old Englishsēc
- Middle Englishsik
- Englishsick
- Englishheartsick
Cite this entry
heartsick. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/heartsick
“heartsick.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/heartsick. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “heartsick,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/heartsick.
Source: heartsick on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.