at heart
Idioms-
Fundamentally, basically, as in He's a good fellow at heart . It was first recorded in Alexander Pope's Epistle to a Lady (1735): “But every Woman is at heart a Rake.”
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In one's deepest feelings, as a great concern, as in The governor has the party's best interests at heart . [Early 1700s]
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
He said that Plaid knows "money will be tight, which is why efficiency and value for money will be at heart of our vision for effective government".
From BBC
He and Albarn are also artists at heart and in nature.
From Los Angeles Times
While the actor is an emotional person at heart, Francesca is not.
From Los Angeles Times
I left there that night thinking that even my Newsom kin, the ones who had my best interests at heart, could get it wrong from time to time.
From Los Angeles Times
For Gomis, addressing the question of dual identity means dealing with "different ways of talking about the same thing at heart".
From Barron's
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
