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to strike a chord

to strike a chord

18 4.4
Make people feel a strong connection when it seems familiar
  • idiom
translation icon : resonar (con)
  • When she shared her personal story, it struck a chord with everyone in the audience.

That also strikes a chord of universal truth.

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Examples

  • Her speech about bullying struck a chord with many students who had experienced similar issues.

  • The documentary about climate change really strikes a chord with viewers who care about the environment.

  • Does it strike a chord?

  • Now there is so much wrong with this article and it really struck a chord with a lot of people.

  • Yeah, that struck a chord with you, right?

  • For what it's worth, what you wrote here struck a chord with me as well.

  • It's, it's just to see which one of these points strikes a chord the most with people.

  • Rachel, is there anything in there that strikes a chord for you?

  • I'm so happy to hear that my work strikes a chord with you.

    Blog text (30)
  • Some books will always be capable of striking a chord with a higher percentage of readers.

    Blog text (20)

Synonyms

to resonate
vsto strike a chord
124 6.0

To make someone feel something strongly and remember it for a long time

aims more at causing a personal recognition tied to familiarity
to resonate with
vsto strike a chord
73 5.9

Make someone feel a strong, shared emotion or understanding

focuses on personal recognition because something feels familiar or relevant
to evoke
vsto strike a chord
71 4.8

To bring a memory, image, or feeling to mind

focuses on personal recognition from familiarity rather than any memory or image
to hit home
vsto strike a chord
26 5.5

To make someone suddenly understand how serious something is

creates recognition through familiarity rather than sudden shock or realization
to strike home
vsto strike a chord
3 6.7

Have a strong effect that makes someone suddenly understand

evokes personal recognition because something is familiar rather than just understanding
to touch a chord
vsto strike a chord
  • Informal
2 5.8

To make a person feel a strong emotion

creates emotion tied to familiarity and personal recognition not only emotion
to resonate deeply
vsto strike a chord
1 6.4

To make someone feel a strong personal connection

is about feeling recognition from relevance rather than intense personal impact
to ring someone's bell
vsto strike a chord
  • Informal
8.2

To strongly attract or excite someone

relies on relevance and personal familiarity rather than mere attraction or excitement
to press the right buttons
vsto strike a chord
  • Informal
6.0

Make someone feel or act in the way you want

works by natural recognition from familiarity rather than deliberate manipulation

Antonyms

123 6.7

To make someone feel alone and lose support from others

How Moving

to move
668 3.4
to strike a chord
18 4.4
to touch
680 2.9

Surface Forms

strike a chord infinitive
striking a chord present participle
strikes a chord third person singular
struck a chord past participle

Morphology

strike + a + chord

The phrase uses a musical image—'strike' (produce or hit) + 'chord' (a harmonious set of notes)—to metaphorically describe producing an emotional resonance. Because understanding the idiomatic meaning requires mapping the musical literal image to an emotional reaction, a B1 learner who only knows the constituent words may guess something related to music but not reliably derive 'evoke an emotion or recognition.' Cross-linguistic parallels (e.g. French 'toucher une corde sensible') make the metaphor somewhat recognizable, so the expression is partially but not fully transparent.

Etymology

Strike a chord comes from music: when you strike a string or chord on an instrument, it makes a sound that people feel or remember. So, 'strike a chord' now means 'to make someone feel an emotion' or 'to seem familiar'.