beside oneself
12
7.0
- idiom
- Informal
:
fuera de sí
- When she heard the news about her promotion, she was beside herself with joy.
Examples
-
Poor girl is beside herself with grief.
Fiction book (2001) -
Thorgen is beside himself with grief.
-
You were, you were really beside yourself.
-
Because they must be beside themselves by now.
-
His father was beside himself.
-
The garden was a mass of color, and she was beside herself with delight.
Blog text (3) -
I'm beside myself at the thought of having grandchildren!
-
But I was beside myself with distress at realizing the loss.
Fiction book (1995) -
Emma Guinness was beside herself with rage.
Fiction book (1990) -
My brother lives in NYC, and I've been beside myself worrying.
Blog text (25)
Antonyms
How Overwhelmed
10
7.2
- Informal
163
3.9
- Informal
12
7.0
86
7.2
35
2.9
∞
1.0
735
1.0
Surface Forms
Morphology
beside + oneself
The literal parts 'beside' (next to) and 'oneself' (one's self) hint at being 'not in one's normal self' or 'outside oneself', so the phrase gives a clear metaphorical cue. However, the specific sense of being overwhelmed by strong emotion is a conventionalized idiom that a B1 learner may not fully predict without exposure, though cross-linguistic parallels (e.g. Spanish 'fuera de sí', French 'hors de soi') increase its recognizability.
Etymology
The idiom beside oneself comes from the image of someone so upset or excited that they seem to stand next to their normal self, with beside and oneself showing this split. That's why it means being 'overwhelmed' by strong emotion and losing control.