butterflies in one's stomach
5
3.9
- idiom
- Informal
:
mariposas en el estómago
- The moment she stepped onto the stage, she felt butterflies in her stomach.
Examples
-
I've got butterflies in my stomach.
-
I can't believe I have butterflies in my stomach.
-
You start feeling the butterflies in your stomach.
-
I have butterflies in my stomach right now.
-
I felt butterflies in my stomach.
Academic text (2009) -
Do you remember the feeling of having butterflies in your stomach at the time when you were about to get the results of your exams?
Blog text (15) -
I'm still so excited about my side hustle; it gives me butterflies in my stomach.
Blog text (30) -
I've got butterflies in my stomach!
-
If you don't have butterflies in your stomach, no matter who you are playing or what level, there is something wrong with you.
Blog text (9) -
I still get butterflies in my stomach when I watch the video clip and he's about to name the winner, even though I know the answer.
Blog text (8)
Synonyms
36
2.7
A feeling of being worried or anxious
9
9.9
A strong nervous or scared feeling that makes you feel uneasy
3
3.8
A feeling of worry and nervousness before an event or about the future
1
7.3
A feeling of being very nervous and afraid because something scary or unknown might happen
1
5.5
A strong nervous feeling that often comes before an important event
1
4.1
A quick nervous feeling in your chest when you are excited
Antonyms
How Nervous
17
7.5
1
4.1
- Informal
5
3.9
26
3.3
Surface Forms
Morphology
butterflies + in + one's + stomach
The phrase maps the fluttering image of 'butterflies' onto the 'stomach' to metaphorically describe a nervous or excited sensation, so the overall meaning is not strictly derivable from the literal constituents. Because the metaphor is natural and widespread cross-linguistically, a B1 learner who knows the words could probably infer a general sense of nervous excitement, but the idiomatic nuance still requires prior exposure.
Etymology
Butterflies in one's stomach comes from the picture of tiny butterflies flapping inside your stomach, making a light, fluttering feeling. So it means 'feeling nervous or excited' before something important.