wear one's heart on one's sleeve
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Openly show one's feelings or emotions
Literally: a heart on the sleeve of a shirt
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
He wears his heart on his sleeve, so it's easy to tell when he's upset
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “wear one's heart on one's sleeve” mean?
Openly show one's feelings or emotions Literally: a heart on the sleeve of a shirt
Is “wear one's heart on one's sleeve” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.