absence makes the heart grow fonder
Also found in: Acronyms.
absence makes the heart grow fonder
proverb A separation causes one to feel even more positive about the absent person or thing. We'll see if absence makes the heart grow fonder after our time apart. I really started to miss school over winter break. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, I guess. I can't believe I missed my girlfriend's cat so much while I was away. Guess it's true that absence makes the heart grow fonder!
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2022 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.
Absence makes the heart grow fonder.
Prov. You will like someone or something better if that person or thing is far away. Ever since Carla's boyfriend moved away, she can't stop thinking about him. Absence makes the heart grow fonder.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
absence makes the heart grow fonder
Separation intensifies love, as in After a year in another country she accepted his proposal, so I guess absence makes the heart grow fonder , or, used ironically, The boss leaves earlier every day; oh well, absence makes the heart grow fonder. Although versions of this saying date from Roman times, it only became popular after Thomas Haynes Bayly used it as the last line of a song in The Isle of Beauty (1850). The opposite sentiment is expressed by familiarity breeds contempt.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
ˌabsence makes the heart grow ˈfonder
(saying) used to say that when you are away from somebody that you love, you love them even more OPPOSITE: out of sight, out of mindFarlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017
absence makes the heart grow fonder
A separation enhances love. This counterpart of familiarity breeds contempt first appeared in an anthology of poems published in 1602 (it was the first line of an anonymous poem), but it was more or less ignored until it reappeared in 1850 as the last line of a song, “The Isle of Beauty,” by T. Haynes Bayly. Within the next half-century it was used so much that by 1900 it was a threadbare cliché. “You’re a dedicated swallower of fascism You’re an accident waiting to happen.” —Billy Bragg
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer Copyright © 2013 by Christine Ammer