Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A pulsation of the heart; a heartbeat.
  • noun A sweetheart.
  • noun A person who is the object of popular romantic infatuation or desire. Usually used of men.
  • noun Sentimental or tender emotion.
  • noun Infatuation.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A heartbeat
  • noun The object of one’s desires or infatuation; a sweetheart
  • noun A usually handsome celebrity or famous person

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun an object of infatuation

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From heart + throb

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word heartthrob.

Examples

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • "There are times when the limitations of the printed word come into focus, like when there is a need to convey how it sounded when Robert Pattinson, who stars as the vampire heartthrob Edward Cullen in the forthcoming movie “Twilight,�? stepped onto a riser at the King of Prussia Mall outside Philadelphia on Thursday evening in front of more than 1,000 mostly teenage girls.

    In collective pitch, frequency and volume the sound would make a shuttle launching seem demure, a Jack White guitar solo retiring, a jackhammer somehow soothing. To reach into history, it may have approached Beatles-at-Shea-Stadium loud, replete with the weeping, swooning and self-hugging, and only the ambient flutter of cellphone cameras and furious texting by way of modern update."

    -- "The Vampire of the Mall,", NYT, 11/16/08

    November 18, 2008