"set one's heart on" meaning in English

See set one's heart on in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Verb

Audio: En-au-set one's heart on.ogg Forms: sets one's heart on [present, singular, third-person], setting one's heart on [participle, present], set one's heart on [participle, past], set one's heart on [past], have one's heart set on [alternative], have one's heart set upon [alternative], set one's heart upon [alternative]
Head templates: {{en-verb|<,,set>}} set one's heart on (third-person singular simple present sets one's heart on, present participle setting one's heart on, simple past and past participle set one's heart on)
  1. (transitive, idiomatic) To desire with intensity and commitment, to earnestly long for. Tags: idiomatic, transitive Translations (to long for): manako (Māori), ohia (Māori)

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "sets one's heart on",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
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    },
    {
      "form": "setting one's heart on",
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    },
    {
      "form": "set one's heart on",
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        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "set one's heart on",
      "tags": [
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      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "have one's heart set on",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "have one's heart set upon",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "set one's heart upon",
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      "name": "en-verb"
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          "ref": "1856, T. S. Arthur, “A True Tale of Life”, in The Wedding Guest:",
          "text": "With all the willful eagerness of a child she set her heart on that visit, and from morning till night she would talk with her little boys of the journey to what seemed to her the brightest, most sacred spot on earth, next to her present home.",
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          "text": "[H]e always found it hard to give up anything he had set his heart on, no matter how trivial.",
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          "ref": "1972 April 3, “Religion: Heal Thy Enemy”, in Time:",
          "text": "Roberts set his heart on a national basketball championship.",
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          "ref": "2008 January 15, “Mitt Romney’s Michigan Primary Speech”, in New York Times, retrieved 26 May 2013:",
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        "To desire with intensity and commitment, to earnestly long for."
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      "id": "en-set_one's_heart_on-en-verb-50tKPoRz",
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        "(transitive, idiomatic) To desire with intensity and commitment, to earnestly long for."
      ],
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          "code": "mi",
          "lang": "Māori",
          "lang_code": "mi",
          "sense": "to long for",
          "word": "manako"
        },
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          "code": "mi",
          "lang": "Māori",
          "lang_code": "mi",
          "sense": "to long for",
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    {
      "form": "setting one's heart on",
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      "form": "set one's heart on",
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    },
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      "form": "set one's heart on",
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        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
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              8,
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          "text": "Roberts set his heart on a national basketball championship.",
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        {
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              31,
              50
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          "text": "Americans can do whatever they set their hearts on.",
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        "To desire with intensity and commitment, to earnestly long for."
      ],
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      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(transitive, idiomatic) To desire with intensity and commitment, to earnestly long for."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "transitive"
      ]
    }
  ],
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  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "mi",
      "lang": "Māori",
      "lang_code": "mi",
      "sense": "to long for",
      "word": "manako"
    },
    {
      "code": "mi",
      "lang": "Māori",
      "lang_code": "mi",
      "sense": "to long for",
      "word": "ohia"
    }
  ],
  "word": "set one's heart on"
}

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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-03-25 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-03-03 using wiktextract (05c257f and 9d9a410). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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