close to home


close to home

Affecting one deeply and emotionally because one can strongly relate to it. My patient's lung cancer diagnosis is close to home for me because my uncle recently died of the same thing. Because I was bullied as a kid, I teared up when my son told me that he gets teased at school—it's just so close to home.See also: close, home

close to home

Fig. affecting one personally and intimately. Her remarks were a bit too close to home. I took her review as a personal insult.See also: close, home

close to home

Also, where one lives. Affecting one intimately and personally, as in That description of orphans really was too close to home, or The teacher's criticisms of her work got her where she lives. The noun home here means "the heart of something," a usage dating from the late 1800s; the variant was first recorded in 1860. Both of these colloquialisms are sometimes preceded by hit, that is, something is said to hit close to home or hit one where one lives , as in That remark about their marriage hit close to home. Also see too close for comfort (to home). See also: close, home

close to home

If a subject is close to home, it makes you feel uncomfortable or upset because it is about a sensitive or very personal subject. I found the film very upsetting — the subject matter was just a bit close to home. I just finished listening to Susan Stamberg's piece on young, fat people attending camp near New York. Its message struck so close to home that it moved me to tears.See also: close, home

close (or near) to home

(of a remark or topic of discussion) relevant or accurate to the point that you feel uncomfortable or embarrassed.See also: close, home

close to ˈhome

if a remark or topic of discussion is close to home, it is accurate or connected with you in a way that makes you uncomfortable or embarrassed: Her remarks about me were embarrassingly close to home.See also: close, home

close to home

/the bone So as to affect one's feelings or interests: Her comment hit close to home.See also: close, home