strike a chord

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strike a chord (third-person singular simple present strikes a chord, present participle striking a chord, simple past and past participle struck a chord)

1. (idiomatic) To elicit a significant reaction, especially one which is favorable or sympathetic.
   • 1997 September 13, Geoffrey Norris, “Holy minimalist who touched a chord”, in The Telegraph‎^[1], UK, archived from the original on 28 September 2015:

     [T]his brand of ecstatic meditation, shared by the Estonian composer Arvo Pärt, has struck a chord with record-buyers, and works such as "The Protecting Veil" (1989) for cello and strings have achieved cult status and huge sales on disc.

   • 2011 June 19, Harold Heckle, “Spaniards march to protest high unemployment, political leadership”, in Toronto Star‎^[2], Canada, archived from the original on 28 September 2015:

     Protests began May 15 and spread to cities across the country, striking a chord with hundreds of thousands fed-up with the wage cuts and tax hikes.

   • 2015 June 15, Collin Binkley, “Pet Photo Series Aims to Counter 'Black Dog' Theory”, in www.msn.com, retrieved 27 September 2015:

     The photos struck a chord online and quickly went viral.

   • 2025 June 3, Mark O’Connell, “‘The Mozart of the attention economy’: why MrBeast is the world’s biggest YouTube star”, in The Guardian‎^[3], archived from the original on 7 June 2025:

     the young Donaldson sits in his gaming chair, stares into his crappy webcam, and counts from 1 to 100,000. It clearly struck a chord with viewers, even if very few of them made it more than a few minutes in.

2. (idiomatic) To convey a feeling or meaning which someone personally internalizes and takes to heart.
   • 2015 August 4, Nicholas Keung, “Holocaust survivors make sure those in need 'not forgotten'”, in Toronto Star‎^[4], Canada, archived from the original on 30 August 2025:

     “The movie just struck a chord with him and he started telling us about his story and experience during the Holocaust.”

• (elicit a reaction, especially a favorable or sympathetic one): touch a chord
• (convey feeling or meaning which one internalizes): hit home

• (antonym(s) of “elicit a reaction, especially a favorable or sympathetic one”): touch a nerve

• “strike a chord”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.