1. Home
2. Idioms
3. nearest and dearest

nearest and dearest

---

---

your nearest and dearest

your family My wife and dozens of her nearest and dearest are from West Virginia.

See also: and, dear, near

your nearest and dearest

  (humorous)

your family When people are stressed at work, they tend to go home and take it out on their nearest and dearest.

See also: and, dear, near

nearest and dearest

One's closest and fondest friends, companions, or relatives, as in It's a small gathering-we're inviting only a dozen or so of our nearest and dearest. This rhyming expression has been used ironically since the late 1500s, as well as by Shakespeare in 1 Henry IV (3:2): "Why, Harry, do I tell thee of my foes, which art my nearest and dearest enemy?"

See also: and, dear, near