Word.ws English Dictionary

wore one's heart on one's sleeve

wore one's heart on one's sleeve is the simple past of wear one's heart on one's sleeve.

Meaning of wear one's heart on one's sleeve

Verb

wear one's heart on one's sleeve (third-person singular simple present wears one's heart on one's sleeve, present participle wearing one's heart on one's sleeve, simple past wore one's heart on one's sleeve, past participle worn one's heart on one's sleeve)

  1. (idiomatic) To be very transparent, open, or forthright about one's emotions.
    • Iago: For when my outward action doth demonstrate
      The native act and figure of my heart
      In compliment extern, 'tis not long after
      But I will wear my heart upon my sleeve
      For daws to peck at: I am not what I am.c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac...
    Synonyms:
    to be an open book

Questions about wore one's heart on one's sleeve

What is wore one's heart on one's sleeve the simple past of?
Wore one's heart on one's sleeve is the simple past of wear one's heart on one's sleeve.

Words near wore one's heart on one's sleeve in the dictionary

  1. wore in
  2. wore many hats
  3. wore off
  4. wore on
  5. wore on one's sleeve
  6. wore one's heart on one's sleeve
  7. wore out
  8. wore out one's welcome
  9. wore rose colored glasses
  10. wore rose-colored glasses
  11. wore sackcloth and ashes

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: wore one's heart on one's sleeve (page history and authors); wear one's heart on one's sleeve (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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