heartsick
Crushed by grief
Heartsick describes deep emotional distress—the ache of grief, disappointment, or longing.
Someone heartsick over a breakup or a death feels the pain almost physically, as if the heart itself were afflicted: She was heartsick when she learned he had married someone else.
The word is slightly literary but still current.
Not returned in kind
- piningAching with prolonged desire
- brokenheartedOverwhelmed with grief
- jiltedAbruptly rejected romantically
- spurnedRejected with contempt
rejected · abandoned · forsaken · forlorn · lovesick · dejected · crushed · scorned
Period following loss
- bereavementState following loss
- lossBeing without something
- sorrowDeep emotional distress
- anguishIntense mental suffering
grieving · despair · sadness · bereft · tears · devastation · inconsolable · woe
Intense prolonged craving
- piningAching with prolonged desire
- wistfulSadly longing for something
- achePersistent dull discomfort
- nostalgiaLonging for the past
homesick · languish · miss · hunger · lonesome · wistfulness · bittersweet · reminiscence
unrequited
Not returned in kind
- piningAching with prolonged desire
- brokenheartedOverwhelmed with grief
- jiltedAbruptly rejected romantically
spurned · rejected · abandoned · forsaken · forlorn · lovesick · dejected · crushed · scorned · dumped
mourning
Period following loss
- bereavementState following loss
- lossBeing without something
- sorrowDeep emotional distress
anguish · grieving · despair · sadness · bereft · tears · devastation · inconsolable · woe · desolation
yearning
Intense prolonged craving
nostalgia · homesick · languish · miss · hunger · lonesome · wistfulness · bittersweet · reminiscence · hiraeth
- sadnesssad, unhappy, grief, sorrowful, melancholy
- Lovesicklovesick, lovelorn, pining, yearning, infatuated
- melodramatichistrionic, theatrical, overwrought, exaggerated, dramatic
- wantingwant, desire, crave, yearn, long
- captivatedspellbound, entranced, enthralled, mesmerized, rapt