to touch a chord
2
5.8
- idiom
- Informal
:
tocar una fibra
- Julia, Patrick, and many of the other Jimminies wept openly; something in Raisin's whole saga touched a chord of tragedy in their world, and they sensed it would never be the same.
Examples
-
The documentary touches a chord with viewers who have experienced similar struggles.
-
The movie touches a chord for those who have faced loss and longing.
-
Something in the taste of her mouth, in the fluid reaching of her tongue, touched a chord in him.
Fiction book (1990) -
Revel in both; it only means you touched a chord in someone else's life that probably needed to be touched.
Blog text (15) -
It definitely touched a chord, and Slack and Swift are delighted with the response.
Blog text (26) -
It touches a chord.
Blog text (29) -
His heartfelt speech touched a chord in the audience, inspiring many to take action.
Synonyms
680
2.9
To make someone feel strong emotion, often sadness or gratitude
131
3.7
To make someone feel a strong emotion
73
5.9
Make someone feel a strong, shared emotion or understanding
57
4.1
Cause a feeling or strong reaction in people
47
4.4
To cause strong feelings in someone
28
4.6
To cause a sudden strong feeling in someone
26
5.5
To make someone suddenly understand how serious something is
18
4.4
Make people feel a strong connection when it seems familiar
3
3.7
Make someone feel strong emotion or sympathy
1
5.3
To make someone feel very sad or touched
1
6.4
To make someone feel a strong personal connection
To make someone feel strong excitement or deep emotion
Make people feel deep sadness or pity
Make someone feel or act in the way you want
How Moving
Surface Forms
Morphology
touch + a + chord
The phrase relies on a musical metaphor: 'touch' (especially in its emotional sense) combined with 'chord' suggests resonating emotionally, so a learner who knows 'touch' can mean 'affect emotionally' and understands 'chord' as musical may infer the idiomatic sense. However the metaphorical mapping is not strictly compositional and can be misread as a literal physical action without prior exposure; cross-linguistic parallels (e.g., French 'toucher une corde sensible') increase partial recognizability but do not make it fully transparent.
Etymology
Touch a chord comes from music: when you touch a chord on a guitar or piano it makes a sound that can move people. So when we say something 'touches a chord' we mean it 'makes someone feel a strong emotion'.