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kick-ass

kick-ass

37 8.4
Very impressive and powerful
  • adjective
  • /ˈkɪkˌæs/
  • Offensive
translation icon : de puta madre (vulgar, informal)
  • Man, that is a kick-ass car.
  • totally kick-ass
  • look kick-ass
  • make it kick-ass

I'm dying for a kick ass copywriter.

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Examples

  • They've got a kick-ass fine arts program.

  • And then this past year I started going to this really kick ass gym called CrossFit Yukaru.

  • You putting on a kick ass show will make me work that much harder.

  • And I also got to do a kick ass accent, which was fun.

  • I'm a special Ed teacher and I just wanted to call and say that you do a kick ass job on on your podcast.

  • And I want to do something that's kick ass and really wild.

  • My small friend here is a kick-ass travel agent.

  • Schedule more featured talks from speakers at the top of their game who give kick-ass talks.

    Blog text (18)
  • Well, I thought about what you said, and I used my brain, and I came up with some really kick-ass ideas, so I went into the boss and I pitched them.

  • The new superhero movie features a kick-ass female lead who saves the day.

Synonyms

killerly impressive
vskick-ass
  • Slang
9.3

Very exciting and surprising to see

includes extra sense of power or toughness beyond pure impressiveness
kickin'
vskick-ass
  • Slang
9.1

Very strong in taste or feeling, often about spicy food

refers more broadly to being powerful, excellent, or tough, not just taste

Antonyms

109 4.8

Only average in quality and not very good

9 3.9

Not very good or likely to attract attention

How Impressive

kick-ass
  • Offensive
37 8.4
outstanding
257 3.4
excellent
1.0
great
1.0
good
1.0

Surface Forms

kick-ass positive
kick-asser comparative
kick-assest superlative

Morphology

kick-ass = kick + ass (semi-transparent) = kick + ass

The compound literally evokes 'kick' + 'ass', but the adjectival sense 'extremely impressive' is a metaphorical extension rather than a direct literal meaning.

Etymology

Kick-ass comes from the two words kick and ass, where kick means 'to hit with the foot' and ass means 'butt'. Think of something so strong or impressive it could 'kick ass', so kick-ass means 'extremely impressive' or 'very powerful'.