heartstring

noun heart·string \ ˈhärt-ˌstriŋ \

Updated on: 18 Apr 2018

Definition of heartstring

1 obsolete : a nerve once believed to sustain the heart

2 : the deepest emotions or affections —usually used in plural

That movie really pulls at your heartstrings.

See heartstring defined for kids

heartstring was our Word of the Day on 02/14/2013. Hear the podcast!

Recent Examples of heartstring from the Web

The original witch’s revisionist history is wildly imaginative escapism on an epic-poetic scale — yeah, your favorite thing — but Miller’s sympathetic approach will pull at your heartstrings, too.

— mary sollosi, EW.com, "Find out your pop culture horoscope for April," 12 Apr. 2018
For many of those on Twitter, the loving gesture tugged at their heartstrings.

— jason duaine hahn, PEOPLE.com, "19-Year-Old Brother Gets a Haircut to Match His Sister's 10-Inch Scar from Brain Tumor Surgery," 6 Apr. 2018
Twilight stans, prepare to have your heartstrings majorly played!

— noelle devoe, Seventeen, "Kristen Stewart and Her "Twilight" Daughter Renesmee Reunited & the Pic Will Give You Cullen Family Feels!," 5 Mar. 2018
And if that doesn't reel you in, Ian Ross' score is a surefire heartstring-tugger.

— margaret gray, latimes.com, "Marc Chagall and the poetic flight of fancy that is 'The Flying Lovers of Vitebsk'," 2 Mar. 2018
From day one of the three-day voting extravaganza, officials went to great lengths to get out the vote, tugging at patriotic heartstrings but also warning those who stayed home would incur 500 pound penalty.

— Bloomberg.com, "Egypt’s El-Sisi Bags Election Win Against ‘Mousa Something’," 30 Mar. 2018
Shaw’s father, Willie, was the defensive backs coach for the Lions back in the 1980s, so maybe there’s something about Detroit that would tug at Shaw’s heartstrings and draw him back.

— dave birkett, Detroit Free Press, "Detroit Lions coaching search: 7 candidates to replace Jim Caldwell," 1 Jan. 2018
But a housing advocate who opposes the bill argues Senate Bill 1376, while pulling on heartstrings, strips renters' rights.

— rebekah l. sanders, azcentral, "What should landlords do when tenants leave a pet behind?," 14 Mar. 2018
Be prepared: These stories will tug at your heartstrings.

— caroline rogers, Southern Living, "23 Movies Based on Moving True Stories," 7 Mar. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'heartstring.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

heartstring Has a Medical History

Before a song or movie or heart-shaped card accompanied by a box of chocolates could tug at your heartstrings, the job was more likely to be accomplished by a surgeon: the word heartstring used to refer to a nerve believed to sustain the heart. You might recognize the word's second syllable in the term "hamstring," which refers to both a group of tendons at the back of the knee and to any of three muscles at the backs of the upper legs. It's also apparent in a rare dialect term for the Achilles' tendon: "heel string." And in light of these terms, it's not surprising to know that "string" itself was at one time used independently to refer to cords like tendons and ligaments.