eat your heart out

Meanings

1. 1phrasefixed phraseinformalhumorous

   Used to tease someone by saying you can do something better than they can, or to show off about your own success.

   Grammar: Stands alone as a short exclamation, often followed by a name or a noun phrase: Eat your heart out, Tom!

   Patterns

   • eat your heart out, someone
   • eat your heart out + noun phrase

   I just got tickets to the final — eat your heart out, Dan!

   She finished the race in under three minutes. Eat your heart out, Olympic runners.

   Eat your heart out, chefs: my grandmother's soup beats anything in this city.

2. 2phrasefixed phraseinformalhumorous

   Used to say that someone will feel very jealous or unhappy about what you have done.

   Grammar: Said after describing something good that has happened to you, so the other person feels envy.

   Patterns

   • eat your heart out

   We're spending two weeks in Hawaii next month. Eat your heart out!

   He got the job he always wanted, and told his old rival to eat his heart out.

Common combinations

eat your heart out, someone

Eat your heart out, Alex — I got front-row seats.

just eat your heart out

I baked this myself, so just eat your heart out.

eat your heart out over something

The fans will eat their hearts out over that goal.

Synonyms and how they differ

so there

A childish, teasing remark said after you win or prove someone wrong; 'eat your heart out' is more playful and focuses on making someone jealous.

top that

Challenges someone to do better than you; 'eat your heart out' assumes they cannot and invites their envy instead.

Commonly confused: eat your heart out or eat your heart out for?

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “eat your heart out”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

Explore more words