Heartbreak is great sadness or disappointment, the kind that feels as if something inside you has broken. People use it most for love that ends — someone leaves, you are not chosen, a relationship fails. They also stretch it: a town can feel heartbreak after losing a final; a parent can feel heartbreak when a child is very ill. As a noun it names the hurt itself: feel heartbreak, suffer heartbreak, a story of heartbreak. Songs and films love this word, so in everyday talk it can sound a little dramatic; a friend might still say it was a real heartbreak without meaning they will never be all right again. Though actually, compared with heartache, this word leans more toward a smash than a dull, lasting ache — but both can be used for the same hard time, and speakers are not always tidy about the difference. Keep the family of forms straight: heartbreak is the hurt; a person who feels it is heartbroken; the news or story that causes it is heartbreaking.