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Definition of "heartstring" [heart•string]

  • The deepest feelings or affections: a tug at the heartstrings. (noun)
  • One of the nerves or tendons formerly believed to brace and sustain the heart. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "heartstring" in a sentence
  • "A nice film about a Pierce Brosnan, family relationships and a great white gorilla who communicates in sign-language sounds like just the kind of heartstring-tugging material the world needs right now."
  • "And Leclère, with fiendish ken, seemed to divine each particular nerve and heartstring, and with long wails and tremblings and sobbing minors to make it yield up its last shred of grief."
  • "Samaranch, who ran the IOC from 1980-2001, offered up a heartstring-pulling argument during Madrid's presentation, saying: I know that I am very near the end of my time."