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to come home

to come home

82 5.0
An idea or fact finally feels very clear and real to someone
  • phrasal verb
  • /kʌm hoʊm/
  • Informal
translation icon : darse cuenta (de)
  • come home to the self

Examples

  • I felt truly as if I had come out of my own waiting place and come home.

    Fiction book (1994)
  • I sent a telegram begging her to come home.

  • She'd tell me all she'd wanted was for him to know he could still come home.

    Fiction book (1994)
  • I can't come home right now.

  • Then, after five long years, Mina came home with her girlfriend.

    Academic text (2018)
  • Once he came home, we redoubled our efforts, already intense, to find a haven.

    Academic text (1998)
  • The cold truth finally came home to her, unfolding in the center of her body, crowding out her breath.

    Fiction book (2000)
  • For the first time since his daughter had come home, Perin smiled, remembering.

    Fiction book (1994)
  • Come home often feels like a relief when the struggles of the day finally fade away.

  • After years of living abroad, it was such a joy to come home and see my family again.

Synonyms

to click
vsto come home
87 3.4

Suddenly become clear and easy to understand in your mind

is a deep emotional realization rather than a quick intellectual snap
to get through
vsto come home
74 3.1

To make an idea or feeling understood by someone

is an internal deeply felt understanding rather than an achieved external communication
to sink in
vsto come home
  • Informal
59 4.1

To slowly understand and accept something

is a strongly felt deeply emotional understanding rather than slow acceptance
to dawn
vsto come home
57 3.6

To begin to be understood and become clear

is a deep emotional clarity rather than an initial gradual awareness
to fall into place
vsto come home
41 3.9

To become clear and easy to understand after confusion

is a deep emotionally felt clarity rather than mere organized sense

How Clear

to hit home
26 5.5
to come home
  • Informal
82 5.0
to sink in
  • Informal
59 4.1
to dawn on
49 3.7
to register
48 3.4

Surface Forms

come home infinitive
coming home present participle
comes home third person singular
came home past
come home past participle

Morphology

come + home

The literal senses of 'come' (arrive) and 'home' (to/toward home) provide a metaphorical basis—arriving at a mental 'home' or conclusion—so there is a visible compositional link. However, the specific idiomatic sense 'to become fully clear or strongly felt' is a figurative extension that many B1 learners who only know the constituent words are unlikely to predict without prior exposure.

Etymology

Come home paints a simple picture: a piece of news or a message finally arriving at your home, like a letter or visitor that reaches you and cannot be ignored. So, when something comes home to you, it reaches your mind or feelings and you 'become fully clear or strongly feel it'.