to give (someone) a piece of one's mind
- idiom
- Informal
- But if I ever see him again, I'm going to give him a piece of my mind.
Examples
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If I were you, I'd go down there and give her a piece of your mind.
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We're going to give him a piece of my mind.
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I'll give him a piece of my mind!
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I'll give him a piece of my mind.
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Just wait 'til I give him a piece of my mind.
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Give him a piece of my mind.
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Taking away my credit just because I owe him a few lousy bucks, and then threatened to call the cops just because I give him a piece of my mind.
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I was so frustrated that I decided to give him a piece of my mind about his rude behavior.
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After hearing his comments, she couldn't help but give him a piece of her mind in front of the whole team.
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When he ignored my advice for the third time, I finally gave him a piece of my mind.
Synonyms
58
8.1
To angrily tell someone off
35
8.1
To scold someone very strongly for something they did
25
7.0
Scold someone angrily in front of others
23
7.5
Tell someone angrily that you are unhappy with them
22
8.5
Shout at someone in a very angry way and threaten them
20
4.2
To speak angrily to someone for doing something wrong
10
7.1
To scold someone angrily and severely
9
8.4
Talk back to someone in a rude way
5
8.7
Tell someone angrily that they did something wrong
3
8.3
Tell someone angrily that they did something wrong
3
7.7
Angrily tell someone they did something wrong
1
6.8
Tell someone angrily that they did something wrong
1
9.9
To scold someone angrily
1
9.9
Rudely say to someone that you want them to go away
1
8.0
To speak to someone in a sudden angry way without good reason
1
9.1
To speak angrily to someone and criticize them
1
9.9
To tell someone angrily that you do not like what they did
1
8.1
To tell someone angrily that they did something wrong
1
6.9
To tell someone they behaved badly in a serious way
To scold someone strongly for doing something wrong
To scold or punish someone angrily for something they did wrong
Scold someone very strongly, often in front of others
Talk back to someone in a rude way
Antonyms
How Angry
78
5.6
- Informal
20
4.2
- Informal
∞
1.0
Surface Forms
Morphology
give + (someone) + a + piece + of + one + mind
The meaning 'to express strong disapproval or anger' cannot be predicted from the literal constituents 'give' + 'piece' + 'mind' — 'a piece of one's mind' is not a compositional notion and does not denote a literal portion of the mind. This is a conventionalized idiom whose force and social-pragmatic sense are language-specific, so a B1 learner who only knows the individual words would not reliably infer the idiomatic meaning.
Etymology
Give (someone) a piece of one's mind may come from the image of taking a small, sharp piece of your mind and handing it to someone with give, like giving them a strong, honest opinion. So, the phrase means 'to tell someone angrily what you think'.