heartstrings
heartstrings Lexical Profile
heartstrings Game Scores & Validity
• noun
One's deepest feelings of love, sympathy, pity, or compassion, especially when appealed to or deeply moved.
"The documentary about rescued animals really tugged at the audience's heartstrings."
In historical anatomy, the tendons, nerves, or fibrous cords formerly believed to support and hold the heart in place (now specifically the chordae tendineae).
"Early medical texts described intense grief as a physical strain capable of snapping the heartstrings."
Word Nuance & Usage
Almost exclusively used in the plural form and within figurative expressions such as 'to tug at one's heartstrings' or 'to pull on someone's heartstrings' to describe evoking deep sympathy or affection.
• Nearby Words
Word Origin & Etymology
Dating back to the 15th century, the word originally referred in medieval anatomy to the tendons or nerves once believed to brace and sustain the physical heart.