Word.ws English Dictionary

hearts on sleeves

hearts on sleeves noun: transparent, open, or forthright emotions.

Noun

hearts on sleeves pl (plural only)

  1. (idiomatic, plural, plural-only) Transparent, open, or forthright emotions.
    • As they have avoided the consequences of one defeat in Standing Committee, we are trying to get another opportunity for the House to consider the matter in order to bring home to the Government that it is no use Ministers coming here with hearts on sleeves and being full of good intentions aimed at...1975 June 11, Parliamentary Debates (Hansard), page 453
    • Played with all hearts on sleeves. With angst. angst. angst.2002 July 23, Greil Marcus, “Real Life Rock Top 10”, in Salon; quoted in Greil Marcus, “Salon, 1999–2003”, in Real Life Rock: The Complete Top Ten Columns, 1986–2014, New Haven, Conn.; London: Yale...

Examples of hearts on sleeves in a sentence

  • THE SCHIAVO CASE: THE SCENE; Protesters With Hearts on Sleeves and Anger on Signs2005 March 28, Rick Lyman, The New York Times, section A, page 15:
  • Well, you’re not bothered – hearts on sleeves and all that – touché.2009, Hazel Wheeler, Crackers at Christmas: The Festive Trials of a Yorkshire Housewife, Amberley Publishing, published 2013, →ISBN:
  • It is a time for reflection, for hearts on sleeves and for dedications.2010, Luca Caioli, Messi: The Inside Story of the Boy Who Became a Legend, Icon Books, →ISBN:
  • On our last trip, hearts on sleeves and neighbourly love in spades had been replaced by clubs in hand and diamond geezers in warring gangs.2012, Sam Bleakley, “Getting Traction in Haiti”, in Surfing Tropical Beats, Alison Hodge Publishers, →ISBN, page 28:

Questions about hearts on sleeves

What does hearts on sleeves mean?
Hearts on sleeves means transparent, open, or forthright emotions.
How do you use hearts on sleeves in a sentence?
THE SCHIAVO CASE: THE SCENE; Protesters With Hearts on Sleeves and Anger on Signs
What part of speech is hearts on sleeves?
Hearts on sleeves is a noun.

Words near hearts on sleeves in the dictionary

  1. hearts of gold
  2. hearts of hearts
  3. hearts of oak
  4. hearts of palm
  5. hearts of stone
  6. hearts on sleeves
  7. hearts, not parts
  8. heartscape
  9. heartscapes
  10. heartsearching
  11. heartsearchings

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: hearts on sleeves (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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