Word.ws English Dictionary

heartbreaker

UK/ˈhɑːt.bɹeɪ.kə//ˈhɑɹt.bɹeɪ.kɚ/

heartbreaker noun: a person, usually attractive, who flirts with or otherwise enamours another person, but does not reciprocate their love.

Noun

heartbreaker (plural heartbreakers)

  1. (agent) A person, usually attractive, who flirts with or otherwise enamours another person, but does not reciprocate their love.
    • It wasn't an actual run-in with the heartbreaker himself, but with a very good friend of his. It's actually much better that way, Victor explained, because seeing the friend of the person who stepped on your heart isn't going to kill you all over again.2005, Alison Pace, If Andy Warhol Had a Girlfriend, Penguin, →ISBN
    • "And this little lovely standing next to him is my favorite heartbreaker, The Fair Lady Sara from Samaria. Kids, this is Dr. Donovan." Sara beamed, obviously thrilled at being considered anyone's heartbreaker, especially Uncle Erik's.2006, Lynn Price, Donovan's Paradigm, Behler Publications, →ISBN, page 234
  2. (agent) Something that causes sorrow, grief or extreme disappointment.
    • He's not lucid most of the time, and that's a heartbreaker. The LAPD will not release details on the altercation that earned Dudley Smith his wounds; they know he would prefer to spare the family of the robber he killed the ignominy of public ...2011, James Ellroy, White Jazz, Vintage, →ISBN, page 340
    • It's a heartbreaker, as I was reminded just now when I went to get the chapter reference, reread it, and started bawling.2007, George Saunders, The Braindead Megaphone, Penguin, →ISBN
  3. (agent) A match which ends in defeat for a promising player or team.
    • Kansas appeared in its first bowl following the 1947 season, losing a heartbreaker to Georgia Tech in the Orange Bowl. KU landed in the Bluebonnet Bowl following the 1961 season, and beat up a good Rice squad, 33-7.2004, Mark Stallard, Tales from the Jayhawks Gridiron, Sports Publishing LLC, →ISBN, page 164
    • Wyoming lost a heartbreaker 7–6. Utah's touchdown was scored on an intercepted pass, Wyoming missed an extra point and, most importantly, an official did not get downfield in time to see a punt hit a Utah player not once, but twice[…]2006, Tom Benjey, Keep A-goin': The Life of Lone Star Dietz, Tuxedo Press, →ISBN, page 246
  4. (agent, dated) A curl or lovelock.

Forms of heartbreaker

pluralheartbreakers

Plural of heartbreaker: heartbreakers

Origin of heartbreaker

From heart + breaker.

Questions about heartbreaker

What does heartbreaker mean?
Heartbreaker means a person, usually attractive, who flirts with or otherwise enamours another person, but does not reciprocate their love.
What part of speech is heartbreaker?
Heartbreaker is a noun.
How do you pronounce heartbreaker?
Heartbreaker is pronounced /ˈhɑːt.bɹeɪ.kə/ (UK).
What is the plural of heartbreaker?
The plural of heartbreaker is heartbreakers.

Words near heartbreaker in the dictionary

  1. heartbonds
  2. heartbreak
  3. heartbreak grass
  4. Heartbreak Hotel
  5. Heartbreak Kid
  6. heartbreaker
  7. heartbreakers
  8. heartbreakin'
  9. heartbreaking
  10. heartbreakingly
  11. heartbreakingness

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: heartbreaker (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.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-heartbreaker.wav.

Cite this entry: “heartbreaker.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/heartbreaker. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.