drive/hammer something home
drive home
1. verb To return home by driving. When do you plan to drive home from the party?
2. verb To drive someone to their home. In this usage, a noun or pronoun can be used between "drive" and "home." Can any of you guys drive me home after the student council meeting? I'll drive her home, don't worry, Mrs. Smith. Sorry I'm late, I had to drive home the whole team.
3. verb To emphasize something. In this usage, a noun or pronoun can be used between "drive" and "home." The nightly news always drives home the presence of danger in our city and makes my anxiety worse.
4. noun The ride to one's home. You can sleep on the drive home—it'll take five hours, after all. The traffic jam made my drive home twice as long as normal.
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2022 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.
drive something home
(to someone) Fig. to emphasize an important point about something (to someone). The teacher repeated the point three times just to drive it home. I hope this really drives the importance of safety home to you. The accident drove home the importance of wearing seatbelts to everyone concerned.
hammer something home
Fig. to try extremely hard to make someone understand or realize something. The boss hopes to hammer the firm's poor financial position home to the staff. I tried to hammer home to Anne the fact that she would have to get a job.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
drive home
Make clearly understood, make a point, as in The network news programs drive home the fact that violence is part of urban life. This expression uses the verb drive in the sense of "force by a blow or thrust" (as in driving a nail). Samuel Hieron used it in Works (1607): "That I may ... drive home the nail of this exhortation even to the head."
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
drive something home
make something clearly and fully understood by the use of repeated or forcefully direct arguments.The verbs hammer , press , and ram are also used in place of drive .
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017
drive/hammer something ˈhome (to somebody)
make sure that somebody understands something completely, for example by repeating it often: The instructor tried to drive home to us the need for safety precautions before diving. ♢ Police used statistics to hammer home their warning about car theft.Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017