Word.ws English Dictionary

have the heart

have the heart verb: to have the capacity (to do something); to be able to bring oneself to do something, especially something cruel or hardhearted.

Verb

have the heart (third-person singular simple present has the heart, present participle having the heart, simple past and past participle had the heart)

  1. To have the capacity (to do something); to be able to bring oneself to do something, especially something cruel or hardhearted.
    • I didn't have the heart to tell him we wouldn't ever come back to see him.
    • My heroes have the heart to lose their lives out on the limb
      And all I remember is thinking "I want to be like them"2006, “Crazy”, in St. Elsewhere, performed by Gnars Barkley

Forms of have the heart

third-person singular presenthas the heart
present participlehaving the heart
past participlehad the heart
pasthad the heart

Questions about have the heart

What does have the heart mean?
Have the heart means to have the capacity (to do something); to be able to bring oneself to do something, especially something cruel or hardhearted.
What part of speech is have the heart?
Have the heart is a verb.
What is the past tense of have the heart?
The past tense of have the heart is had the heart.

Words near have the heart in the dictionary

  1. have the first idea
  2. have the floor
  3. have the foggiest
  4. have the goods on
  5. have the hang of
  6. have the heart
  7. have the hots for
  8. have the last laugh
  9. have the laugh on one's side
  10. have the law of
  11. have the legs of someone

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: have the heart (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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