heartrending

/ˈhɑrtˌrɛndɪŋ/

Other forms: heartrendingly

Something heartrending is heartbreaking: it causes grief and sadness.

The heart is the organ associated with emotions, and to rend something is to tear it, so heartrending things tear up your heart: not literally, but because they make you sad. The death of a friend or loved one is heartrending. Getting a terrible disease like cancer is heartrending. A tragic story can be heartrending if it makes you feel for the people involved. Anything that makes you cry is probably heartrending.

Definitions of heartrending

1. adjective

   causing or marked by grief or anguish
   “the heartrending words of Rabin's granddaughter”

   synonyms: grievous, heart-wrenching, heartbreaking

   sorrowful

   experiencing or marked by or expressing sorrow especially that associated with irreparable loss