to go ballistic
29
7.5
- phrasal verb
- Informal
- When she arrived at the bad scene on the highway, Kate went ballistic.
- just went ballistic
- Dad went ballistic
- Mom went ballistic
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Watch on YouTubeAnd Bradley went ballistic on her.
- And Bradley went ballistic on her.
Examples
-
And if she does go ballistic, you want witnesses who can verify that she lost it, not you.
Blog text (31) -
He went ballistic when Internal Affairs started poking around.
-
The more people present, the less likely she is to go ballistic.
Blog text (31) -
When I mentioned that to my aunt, she went ballistic.
Blog text (31) -
If you touch her now, she'll go ballistic.
Fiction book (1994) -
You don't have to go ballistic!
-
The child's mother apparently went ballistic, and things went downhill from there.
Blog text (18) -
For one, Nancy went ballistic when she heard that Tonya was also going to be in Lillehammer.
Fiction book (1999) -
One more "Hey, Joanie, where's Chachi," and I'll go ballistic.
-
My mother went ballistic when she found out I had lost her favorite necklace.
Synonyms
117
4.2
To suddenly start in a strong or violent way, often showing strong feeling
114
3.5
To suddenly show a strong feeling, often anger
78
5.6
Suddenly say angry things about someone by speaking or writing
66
4.7
To suddenly become very angry and lose control
32
7.7
To become very angry and act out of control
28
5.3
To suddenly become very angry or upset and show it strongly
18
6.1
To suddenly become very angry or upset in a loud, obvious way
15
4.4
To show sudden strong anger or upset, often like a child
14
8.1
To lose control because you are very excited or angry
8
8.1
To suddenly say something angry without warning
8
5.3
To suddenly get very angry without warning
8
6.8
To suddenly become very angry
7
8.3
To become extremely angry and shout or act violently
6
6.8
To become very angry suddenly
6
7.4
To suddenly become very angry
4
6.7
To suddenly become very angry
2
9.9
To become very angry and act in a wild, out of control way
2
6.9
To become very angry or upset in a way people notice
1
6.8
To suddenly get very angry
1
9.9
To suddenly get very angry and speak loudly for a long time
1
8.8
Become very upset or angry in a way that is too strong
1
3.7
To suddenly become very angry and not be able to control yourself
1
9.9
To become suddenly very angry and upset in a dramatic way
1
8.7
To suddenly become very angry or upset and act childishly
To suddenly become very angry
Suddenly get very angry and show it
To suddenly become very angry and behave in a mean way
To suddenly become very angry and lose control of yourself
To become suddenly very angry and lose control
Antonyms
How Angry
- Informal
7
8.3
- Informal
32
7.7
- Informal
29
7.5
103
1.0
Surface Forms
Morphology
This is a straightforward verb + adjective construction: 'go' = become and 'ballistic' = extremely/aggressively extreme or rapidly intense, so a learner who knows both words can infer 'become ballistic' = become extreme/very intense (applied to anger, excitement, or rapid rises). The compositional pattern (go + adjective = change of state) is a common, cross-linguistic construction, so the meaning is transparently derivable from the constituents.
Etymology
The idiom go ballistic comes from the image of a rocket or bomb suddenly exploding or shooting off. People pictured someone 'going off' like that, so the phrase now means 'to become very angry'.