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Glite Dictionary
to put one's heart in

to put one's heart in

1 4.5
To try very hard and feel strongly about something
  • phrasal verb
translation icon : poner el corazón en
  • She decided to put her heart in her writing, dedicating hours to create a beautiful story.

Examples

  • If you really want to succeed, you have to put your heart in every project you take on.

  • I've always had a deep respect and I mean that most sincerely I mean, Roy really put his heart in this.

    Pink Floyd: The Story of Wish You Were Here (2012)

  • Put your heart in it, people, big night, let's have some fun!

    Chef (2014)

  • You see, Tiger, it's like Kenny Rogers said, when you put your heart in it, it can take you anywhere.

    Honor Society (2022)

  • It won't move your mind unless you give it your mind, or your heart unless you put your heart in it.

    Blog text (28)

  • If I'm gonna put my heart in front of you... ...I need to know I'm doing it with someone who will listen to it... ...and not make a joke out of it like you did with Holly Go-fucking-lightly.

    Infamous (2006)

  • To truly enjoy the festival, you must put your heart in it and embrace the experience fully.

Synonyms

to commit
vsto put one's heart in
706 3.4

To give time, money, or effort to something

stresses personal feeling and energy more than formal dedication
to put into
vsto put one's heart in
272 2.9

To spend time, effort, or care on work

limits this to primarily emotion plus energy rather than all resources
to go all in
vsto put one's heart in
  • Informal
15 5.2

Put all your time, money, and effort into one plan

focuses more on deep feeling combined with effort not just total commitment
to put one's mind to it
vsto put one's heart in
14 3.5

To focus all your attention and effort on achieving something

adds heartfelt emotion to focused effort rather than only mental focus
to put one's shoulder into
vsto put one's heart in
  • Informal
1 6.8

To work very hard and use a lot of energy

emphasizes heartfelt emotional involvement as well as effort
to put heart in
vsto put one's heart in
  • Informal
5.3

Care deeply and work hard on a task

is the same meaning but uses the possessive form
heart in one's work
vsto put one's heart in
5.1

Great care and effort for your job

focuses on emotion and effort in any situation not only jobs

Antonyms

to hold back
108 4.2

Keep yourself from showing feelings or telling others

to disengage
82 5.3

To stop being part of or connected to something

How Committed

to put one's heart in
1 4.5
to try
∞ 1.0
to go through the motions
  • Informal
26 5.0

Surface Forms

put one's heart in infinitive
put one's heart in past
put one's heart in past participle
putting one's heart in present participle
puts one's heart in third person singular

Morphology

put + one's + heart + in

The meaning 'to invest a lot of emotion or effort' is directly derivable from combining 'put' (place/invest) with 'heart' (center of emotions) and the preposition 'in' (into something). The metaphor of placing one’s heart into an activity is cross-linguistically common and follows ordinary compositional logic, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents can infer the sense.

Etymology

Put one's heart in creates a clear picture: imagine taking your heart and putting it into a task, as if you give it away. So, when you put your heart in something, you truly care and give a lot of effort, which is why it means 'to care deeply' or 'to invest a lot of energy'.