Meaning & use
your heart's content
Last updated
Meaning
phrasefixed phraseinformal
As much as you want or enjoy, without limit.
Grammar: Used after 'to' or 'at': 'You can eat to your heart's content.'
Patterns
- to your heart's content
- at your heart's content
At the buffet, you can eat to your heart's content.
She played in the snow to her heart's content.
The children swam to their hearts' content all afternoon.
Common combinations
- to your heart's content
- You can sing to your heart's content at karaoke night.
- at your heart's content
- He read at his heart's content in the quiet library.
- play to your heart's content
- The puppies played to their heart's content in the yard.
- eat to your heart's content
- At the party, we ate to our heart's content.
Synonyms and how they differ
- to your satisfaction
- More formal and neutral; 'to your heart's content' adds a feeling of joy and freedom.
- as much as you like
- A plain phrase with the same meaning, but it lacks the idiomatic warmth of 'heart's content'.
Commonly confused: your heart's content or heart content?
your heart's content vs heart content
The correct phrase always has the possessive: 'your heart's content', not 'heart content'.
Practice
Complete the sentence: 'The kids ran around the park ______.'
Choose one answer.
The fixed idiom is 'to your heart's content' with a possessive apostrophe. 'Hearts content' is missing the apostrophe; 'at' is less common and 'contents' changes the meaning.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “your heart's content”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.