after one's own heart

af·ter one's own heart
UK/ˈæftə wʌnz əʊn ˈhɑːt/UK/ˈɑːf-/US/ˈæftɚ wʌnz oʊn ˈhɑɹt/

prepositional phrase

Of a person: having the same disposition, feelings, or opinions as oneself.

Similar
after one's heartafter one's own soul

Meanings

prepositional phrase
  1. idiomaticOf a person: having the same disposition, feelings, or opinions as oneself.

    Professor Cusins: you are a young man after my own heart.

    1905, [George] Bernard Shaw, “Major Barbara”, in John Bull’s Other Island and Major Barbara: Also How He Lied to Her Husband, London: Archibald Constable & Co., published 1907, →OCLC, Act II, page 234
    5 more examples

    [H]e [God] ſet vppe David to be their kynge⸝ to whome he gave witnes⸝ ſaynge: I have founde David the ſonne of Jeſſe⸝ a man after myne awne hert⸝ he ſhall fullfyll all my will.

    1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, The Actes off the Apostles xiij:[22], folio clxxiij, verso

    But now thy [Saul's] kingdome ſhall not continue: the Lord hath ſought him a man after his owne heart, and the Lord hath commanded him to bee captaine ouer his people, becauſe thou haſt not kept that which the Lord hath commanded thee.

    1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 1 Samuel 13:14, column 2

    […] I turn with great complacency to the fourth class of my readers, who are men, or, if possible, women, after my own heart; grave, philosophical and investigating; fond of analyzing characters, of taking a start from first causes, and so hunting a nation down, through all the mazes of innovation and improvement.

    1809, Diedrich Knickerbocker [pseudonym; Washington Irving], chapter III, in A History of New York, from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty. […], volume I, New York, N.Y.: Inskeep & Bradford, […], →OCLC, book III, pages 141–142

    Look, Pisistratus, man after my own heart, see the gleam of bronze and gold—of amber, ivory, and silver. Everything is so splendid that it is like seeing the palace of Olympian Jove. I am lost in admiration.

    1900, Homer, “Book IV”, in Samuel Butler, transl., The Odyssey: Rendered into English Prose for the Use of Those who Cannot Read the Original, London: A[rthur] C. Fifield, →OCLC, page 41

    I found the father of Thuvia a man after my own heart, and that night saw the beginning of a friendship which has grown until it is second only to that which obtains between Tars Tarkas, the green Jeddak of Thark, and myself.

    1913 December – 1914 March, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “New Allies”, in The Warlord of Mars, Chicago, Ill.: A[lexander] C[aldwell] McClurg & Co., published September 1919, →OCLC, page 133

    Synonyms: after one's heart, after one's own soul

  2. idiomaticOf a situation or thing: according to, or appealing to, one's own desire, liking, or taste.

    In this particular party, small as it was, culture, learning, art, arms, landed interest and hereditary sway were properly personified. It was, indeed, a representative gathering after the Talberts' own hearts.

    1885, Hugh Conway [pseudonym; Frederick John Fargus], “Gastronomic and Erotic”, in A Family Affair […], volume I, London: Macmillan and Co., →OCLC, pages 244–245
    1 more example

    During these wanderings I once hit on a vegetarian restaurant in Farringdon Street. The sight of it filled me with the same joy that a child feels on getting a thing after its own heart. […] This was my first hearty meal since my arrival in England.

    1927, M[ohandas] K[aramchand] Gandhi, “My Choice”, in Mahadev Desai, transl., The Story of My Experiments with Truth: Translated from the Original in Gujarati, volume I, Ahmedabad, Gujarat: Navajivan Press, →OCLC, part I, page 119

    Synonyms: after one's heart, after one's own soul

Synonyms & antonyms

prepositional phraseOf a person: having the same disposition, feelings, or opinions as oneself.

Similar
after one's heartafter one's own soul

prepositional phraseOf a situation or thing: according to, or appealing to, one's own desire, liking, or taste.

Similar
after one's heartafter one's own soul

Origin

From after (“in imitation of; following”) + one’s + own + heart (“disposition; personality”), a reference to 1 Samuel 13:14 and Acts 13:22 in the Bible: see the 1526 and 1611 quotations.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Dutch naar zijn hart
  • naar zijn hartof a situation or thing: according to, or appealing to, one’s own desire, liking, or taste
Polish bratni, w czyimś guście
  • bratniof a person: having the same disposition, feelings, or opinions as oneself
  • w czyimś guścieof a situation or thing: according to, or appealing to, one’s own desire, liking, or taste

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with after one's own heart

All rhymes →
Cite this entry
APA

after one's own heart. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/after%20one's%20own%20heart

MLA

“after one's own heart.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/after%20one's%20own%20heart. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “after one's own heart,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/after%20one's%20own%20heart.

Source: after one's own heart on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.