heart

heart

noun

Definition of HEART

1

the capacity for feeling for another's unhappiness or misfortune <those who refuse to contribute to the fund for the famine victims must have no heart>

Synonyms bigheartedness, charity, commiseration, compassion, feeling, good-heartedness, humanity, kindheartedness, kindliness, kindness, largeheartedness, mercy, pity, ruth, softheartedness, sympathy, warmheartedness

Related Words feelings, responsiveness, sensibility, sensitivity; affection, love, regard; affinity, empathy, rapport; altruism, benevolence, benignancy, benignity, generosity, goodwill, humaneness, humanism, humanitarianism, philanthropy

Near Antonyms callousness, coldness, disinterest, indifference, unconcern; cruelty, harshness; animosity, antipathy, dislike, hatred, hostility

Antonyms coldheartedness, hard-heartedness, inhumanity, inhumanness, mercilessness, pitilessness

2

a thing or place that is of greatest importance to an activity or interest <the heart of the village economy was the outdoor market>

Synonyms axis, base, capital, central, core, cynosure, epicenter, eye, focus, ground zero, heart, hub, locus, mecca, navel, nerve center, nexus, nucleus, omphalos, seat

Related Words headquarters; happy hunting ground, hive, hotbed, hot spot, playground, playland; kernel, nub, pith; deep, thick; essence, quintessence, soul; attraction, lodestone (also loadstone), magnet, polestar

3

strength of mind to carry on in spite of danger <never lost heart while she was lost in the woods>

Synonyms bottle [British slang], bravery, courageousness, daring, daringness, dauntlessness, doughtiness, fearlessness, gallantry, greatheartedness, guts, gutsiness, hardihood, heart, heroism, intestinal fortitude, intrepidity, intrepidness, moxie, nerve, pecker [chiefly British], prowess, stoutness, valor, virtue

Related Words backbone, fiber, fortitude, grit, gumption, mettle, pluck, pluckiness, spunk, temper; determination, perseverance, resolution; endurance, stamina, stomach, tenacity; audacity, boldness, brazenness, cheek, cojones [slang], effrontery, gall, temerity

Near Antonyms cold feet, faintheartedness, fearfulness, mousiness, timidity, timorousness; feebleness, softness, weakness; impotence, ineffectualness; hesitation, indecision, indecisiveness, irresolution

Antonyms cowardice, cowardliness, cravenness, dastardliness, poltroonery, spinelessness

4

the central part or aspect of something under consideration <at the heart of the problem is the school's outmoded computer system> <avoided any small talk and got right to the heart of the matter>

Synonyms bottom line, bull's-eye, centerpiece, core, essence, gist, heart, kernel, keynote, meat, meat and potatoes, net, nub, nubbin, nucleus, pith, pivot, point, root, sum

Related Words course, direction, drift, tenor; body, content, substance; hypothesis, proposition, purport, subject, theme, thesis

5

the seat of one's deepest thoughts and emotions <deep down in her heart, she knew he was telling the truth>

Synonyms belly, blood, bone(s), bosom, breast, gut, heart, heartstrings, inner space, inside, quick, soul

Related Words conscience, mind