What Does “hit home” mean?
Definition:
If something hits home, it makes sense or strongly affects or resonates with someone.
Origin
Some think that the phrase “hit home” is short for “hit a home run“, which is a baseball expression. Hitting a home run means having impressive success. In baseball, this occurs when the batter has scored more points for his team without any errors.
However, although the two phrases have some common semantic traits (i.e., they both refer to something that had the envisioned consequence or that was done successfully), the usage is very different.
In its literal meaning, hitting home means hitting an intended target. Figuratively, the phrase refers to something that makes sense and causes some emotional reaction as in “his criticism hit home.”
Alternative phrases include:
– Strike home.
– Strike a chord.
Example(s)
I don’t think the message really hit home with the crowd.
The manager’s remarks in the meeting clearly hit home because everybody started to make positive changes in their work since then.
The president’s speech stroke home.