close to home

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).

Example Sentences

But shrinking federal backing, tighter labor and a competitor’s bailout cut close to home.

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Could they really be that close to home?

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Along with continuing to protect and preserve the remains of the USS Monitor, MNMS’s expanded mission will be to explore these World War II shipwrecks, and, if possible, to recover relics and educate the public about this maritime battlefield that, while so close to home, has all but been lost to history.

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On this episode: Lucy Lopez, Elizabeth Newcamp, and Zak Rosen dig into a listener letter that hits close to home for Elizabeth.

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In Peterborough, about 20 miles north of Huntingdon, Dal Hicks, who has lived in the city for about five years, said the event was "a massive shock as it is so close to home".

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