Meaning & use
home safe and sound
Last updated
Meanings
phrasefixed phrase
having reached home without injury, damage, or loss along the way
Grammar: Used after linking or movement verbs such as be, get, arrive, or come back; the whole phrase acts like an adjective.
Patterns
- get home safe and sound
- arrive home safe and sound
- be home safe and sound
After the long drive through the storm, we were relieved to be home safe and sound.
Text me when you get home safe and sound so I know the trip went well.
The missing cat turned up three days later, home safe and sound and very hungry.
phrasefixed phrasefigurative
used to say that someone or something has come through a difficult experience with no harm
Grammar: Often used more broadly than travel: the person may be back from any risky situation, not only a journey.
Patterns
- come home safe and sound
- return home safe and sound
She came home safe and sound after a year working in a conflict zone.
The company's finances are home safe and sound after the crisis, though the staff are exhausted.
Common combinations
- get home safe and sound
- Call me when you get home safe and sound.
- arrive home safe and sound
- The team arrived home safe and sound late last night.
- come home safe and sound
- He came home safe and sound after the operation.
- be home safe and sound
- By midnight everyone was home safe and sound.
- make it home safe and sound
- I'm glad you made it home safe and sound in this weather.
Synonyms and how they differ
- unharmed
- This means not hurt, but it does not include the idea of reaching home, so it fits when you describe a person's condition rather than a completed journey.
- safely
- This adverb describes how someone does something, as in 'She arrived safely', and it is more neutral and less warm than the fixed phrase.
- in one piece
- This informal phrase also means without damage, but it often sounds more casual or slightly humorous than 'home safe and sound'.
Commonly confused: home safe and sound or safe and sound? home safe and sound or sound?
home safe and sound vs safe and sound
This shorter phrase means simply 'not harmed', without the idea of being home; 'home safe and sound' adds the result of getting back to your house.
home safe and sound vs sound
As an adjective, 'sound' here means healthy or in good condition, not the noun meaning a noise; learners sometimes misread the phrase as being about hearing.
Practice
Choose the sentence that uses the phrase correctly.
Choose one answer.
The fixed phrase is 'safe and sound', and it normally comes after 'home' when the verb is 'arrive': 'arrived home safe and sound'. Option 1 changes the fixed order of the two adjectives, option 2 puts 'home' in the wrong place, and option 3 mixes the adverb 'safely' with the adjective 'sound', which breaks the pattern.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “home safe and sound”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.