heart-to-heart

[ hahrt-tuh-hahrt ]
See synonyms for: heart-to-heartheart-to-hearts on Thesaurus.com

adjective
  1. frank; sincere: We had a heart-to-heart talk about his poor attendance.

noun
  1. Informal. a frank talk, especially between two persons.

Origin of heart-to-heart

1
First recorded in 1865–70

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use heart-to-heart in a sentence

  • I've realised it since a heart-to-heart talk old Con forced me to have with him a fortnight before we sailed.

    Vision House | C. N. Williamson
  • He must go to Monteverde, give him a good, heart-to-heart lecture, so that he would be good and not make her suffer.

    Woman Triumphant | Vicente Blasco Ibaez

British Dictionary definitions for heart-to-heart

heart-to-heart

adjective
  1. (esp of a conversation or discussion) concerned with personal problems or intimate feelings

noun
  1. an intimate conversation or discussion

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Idioms and Phrases with heart-to-heart

heart-to-heart

Candidly, sincerely, as in We need to talk heart to heart about her coming marriage. This expression is nearly always applied to a conversation of some kind. [Mid-1900s]

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.