close to home

Idioms  

1. 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, as in That remark about their marriage hit close to home. Also see too close for comfort (to home).

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Example Sentences

Data provided to The Times by Melissa, a global address provider, shows that most of those displaced in the two fires stayed close to home but they also spread tendrils across the country.

From Los Angeles Times

Armed with swimsuits, caps and goggles, rural French children are gaining access to swimming lessons close to home at an unlikely venue: a retrofitted trailer truck.

From Barron's

“My parents being immigrants from Korea, this one definitely hits pretty close to home,” said Chloe Kim, who is from Torrance.

From Los Angeles Times

The department, the spokesperson added, was "laying the groundwork for an inclusive education system where children are supported at the earliest stage and can thrive in a school that meets their needs, close to home".

From BBC

I’m a Capricorn from Wisconsin, which means my birthday arrives at the coldest, darkest time of the year — when people stay close to home, not linger over dinner or celebrate anything at all.

From Salon