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Glite Dictionary
to go nutso

to go nutso

1 9.6
To get very excited and act loudly
  • phrasal verb
  • /ɡoʊ ˈnʌtsoʊ/
  • Slang
translation icon : volverse loco
  • The fans went nutso when their team won the championship in the last minute.

Examples

  • Number three-- you can't go nutso.

    The Princess Diaries (2001)

  • When she saw the unexpected gift, she went nutso with joy and excitement.

  • After hearing the good news, he went nutso and started dancing around the room.

Synonyms

to get excited
vsto go nutso
112 1.0

To feel very eager and happy about something

is far more extreme and sudden, showing wild enthusiasm or craziness
to go berserk
vsto go nutso
  • Informal
27 7.7

To become very angry and act out of control

is sudden extreme excitement or wild enthusiasm rather than violent anger
to wig out
vsto go nutso
  • Informal
11 9.2

React with strong fear or excitement and lose control

is mainly sudden wild enthusiasm rather than panic or anxious loss of control
to go bananas
vsto go nutso
  • Informal
8 8.1

To lose control because you are very excited or angry

is mainly about sudden strong excitement and wild enthusiasm rather than anger
to bubble over
vsto go nutso
2 4.7

To be so full of strong feeling or excitement that you show it clearly

is sudden extreme enthusiasm that is often wilder and crazier than mere overflow
to go batshit
vsto go nutso
  • Offensive
2 9.9

To become very angry and act in a wild, out of control way

is sudden wild excitement without the strong anger or irrationality
to go wild over
vsto go nutso
  • Informal
1 3.9

Become very excited and happy about something like a song or a pet

is broader sudden wild enthusiasm, not only focused on a specific person or thing

How Excited

to go nutso
  • Slang
1 9.6
to get excited
112 1.0

Surface Forms

go nutso infinitive
went nutso past
gone nutso past participle
going nutso present participle
goes nutso third person singular

Morphology

go + nutso

The meaning is directly compositional: 'go' = 'come to be in a particular state' + 'nutso' = 'crazy/excited', so a learner can infer 'become crazy/excited'. The pattern 'go + ADJ' expressing a change of state is a regular English construction (and found cross-linguistically), making the expression transparent even though 'nutso' is informal slang.

Etymology

Go nutso comes from the slang nut or 'nuts', a playful word for someone who is 'crazy' or 'very excited'. The verb go shows a change, so go nutso means to suddenly become extremely excited or wild.