at heart

Meanings

prepositional phrase

In spirit; according to one's beliefs, views or feelings; deep down, fundamentally, really.
I’m a vegan at heart – the thought of the death of animals for my food is abhorrent.
2 more examples
My dad may be old on the outside, but he’s young at heart; he plays video games every now and then to improve his coordination.
One could argue, of course, that most comedies about the risqué misadventures of teenagers are actually pretty wholesome. Horny hits like American Pie and last year's Blockers are, at heart, sweet coming-of-age stories, secretly reassuring everyone that the kids are all right—that no matter how many f-bombs they drop, no matter how raunchy their MPAA-antagonizing hijinks get, they're really just fumbling their inexperienced way through normal rites of passage.
2019 August 14, A. A. Dowd, “Good Boys Puts a Tween Spin on the R-rated Teen Comedy, to Mostly Funny Effect”, in The A.V. Club, archived from the original on 04 Mar 2021
Synonyms: at bottom, essentially
Wished earnestly for; held in high esteem.
I always have your best interests at heart.

prepositional phraseIn spirit; according to one's beliefs, views or feelings; deep down, fundamentally, really.

Similar

adverbin reality

Similar

Also see

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Arabic بِصَمِيم

Esperanto je koro

Finnish sydämeltään

German im Innersten, im Geiste

Italian in cuor proprio

Cite this entry

APA

at heart. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/at%20heart

MLA

“at heart.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/at%20heart. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “at heart,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/at%20heart.

Source: at heart on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.