have a heart

Idioms  

1. Be merciful, show pity; also, be reasonable. For example, Have a heart—I can't pay you back until next month, or Have a heart and stop your arguing now. This expression is often put as an imperative, as in the examples. [c. 1900] Also see harden one's heart.

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Example Sentences

Just like having high cholesterol doesn’t mean you will have a heart attack, having biomarkers like amyloid doesn’t mean you’re going to develop Alzheimer’s disease, he says.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 10, 2026

In it, she said the medical director of Euracare had told Adichie her son "had received too much sedation", which subsequently caused him to have a heart attack.

From BBC • Jan. 10, 2026

“But no one says, ‘I think I’m going to have a heart attack next year.’

From MarketWatch • Oct. 30, 2025

It tastes the same as regular salt and can reduce the chance you’ll have a heart attack or stroke by 10-15%, according to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2021.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 10, 2025

Her father was about to have a heart attack, and my memories of her now are tinged with a blue wash of misfortune that hadn’t quite befallen her at the time.

From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides