Word.ws English Dictionary

with open arms

with open arms prepositional phrase: with enthusiasm, as if embracing.

Prepositional phrase

  1. (idiomatic) With enthusiasm, as if embracing.
    • Night after lonely night, we meet in dreams / As I run to your side / You wait with open arms, open arms / That now are closed to me / Through a veil of tears / Your vision disappears / And I'm as blue as I can be1963, Bobby Vinton, “Blue on Blue”, in Blue on Blue
    • There once was a time / I was down on my luck and I needed a friend / and there you were with open arms / and you took me in1977, True Example, “Love Is Finally Coming My Way”

Synonyms of with open arms

Questions about with open arms

What does with open arms mean?
With open arms means with enthusiasm, as if embracing.
What part of speech is with open arms?
With open arms is a prepositional phrase.

Words near with open arms in the dictionary

  1. with one's tail up
  2. with one's thumb up one's ass
  3. with one's thumbs up one's arse
  4. with one's thumbs up one's ass
  5. with one's tongue in one's cheek
  6. with open arms
  7. with pleasure
  8. with prejudice
  9. with privilege
  10. with reason
  11. with regard to

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: with open arms (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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-with open arms.ogg.

Cite this entry: “with open arms.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/with_open_arms. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.