bleeding heart

1 of 2

noun

1

: a garden plant (Lamprocapnos spectabilis synonym Dicentra spectabilis) of the poppy family with racemes of usually deep pink or white drooping heart-shaped flowers

broadly : any of several related plants (genus Dicentra)

2

disparaging : a person who shows extravagant sympathy especially for an object of alleged persecution

To question police practices in America is to plunge into a debate distorted by caricatures. Police defenders generally see critics as cop-hating bleeding hearts, while police critics often see cops as trigger-happy killers.

—Ellis Cose

bleeding-heart

2 of 2

adjective

bleed·​ing-heart ˈblē-diŋ-ˈhärt 

: feeling or showing excessive or extravagant sympathy especially for an object of alleged persecution

—used as a term of disparagement for people with politically liberal opinions

… was often described as … a bleeding-heart liberal because he lent his name to so many left-wing groups.

—Patricia Bosworth

Examples of bleeding heart in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Adjective

When these laws get struck down — and if there is any semblance of respect for precedent or the division of state and federal powers left in the judiciary, they must be struck down — then the likes of Reynolds get to claim that their efforts have been thwarted by bleeding-heart judges. —New York Daily News Editorial Board, New York Daily News, 15 Apr. 2024

The most persistent voice in favor of tribal sovereignty and Native American tribes’ constitutional rights is not a bleeding-heart member of the court’s liberal wing. —Matt Ford, The New Republic, 15 June 2023

Watching earnest Lokita enslaved to a drug cartel, deprived of a fulfilling womanhood, while resourceful Tori, working his heart out, riding a bike bigger than himself, merely appeases bleeding-heart sanctimony. —Armond White, National Review, 31 Mar. 2023

Word History

First Known Use

Noun

1864, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Adjective

1937, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

bleeding heart

noun

1

: a garden plant having drooping spikes of deep pink or white heart-shaped flowers

2

: a person who always shows a great amount of sympathy to victims of misfortune or persecution

—used to express disparagement