Meaning of Idiom ‘Bring Home (to someone)’
To bring something home to someone means to make someone realize the full importance or significance of something; to make something very clear or more clear than it was before; to make something realize something or understand something fully; to get to the heart of the matter. 1Ayto, John. [http://amzn.to/2vdGvI7 Oxford Dictionary of English Idioms]. Oxford: Oxford U, 2010.,2Ammer, Christine. American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013.,3Jarvie, Gordon. Bloomsbury Dictionary of Idioms. London: Bloomsbury, 2009.,4Definition of bring sth home (to sb) from the Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press
Usage Notes
This idiom is usually used to refer to unpleasant truths or circumstances. ‘To someone’ is often implied but not stated.
Examples Of Use
“The last few days of my trip have brought home to me just how much I love being with my family.”
“His close call with death brought home just how fragile life is.”
“His recent lies brought home the truth of his drug habit.”
“The destruction and flooding really brought home the devastation the hurricane had wrought.”
Origin
Used since the second part of the 1800s.
The word home is used to refer to something that personally touches someone. 5Ammer, Christine. American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013.
