to high heaven
7
7.2
- idiom
- Informal
:
hasta el cielo
- The whole thing over there stinks to high heavens.
- stink to high heaven
- smell to high heaven
- whole thing stinks to high heaven
It stinks to high heaven and I keep screaming out corrupt police.
- It stinks to high heaven and I keep screaming out corrupt police.
- What if I'm the warden of the jail and I'm like, this stinks to high heaven.
- Man, that foundation is like creasing to high heaven on me too.
Examples
-
And let me tell you something: the whole thing stinks to high heaven.
Fiction book (1998) -
Mr. Sestak: If you don't come clean, your whole campaign will stink to high heaven.
Blog text (12) -
This whole thing smells to high heaven!
-
This whole thing stinks to high heaven.
-
I looked at the story and thought, for a variety of reasons, that it stank to high heaven.
Blog text (19) -
When any politician can get over 100% of the vote in an area, something stinks to high heaven.
Blog text (5) -
The key is to start off by saying, "This ad stinks to high heaven," then gather the details.
Blog text (24) -
It stank to high heaven!
-
It stinks to high heaven and I keep screaming out corrupt police.
-
The committee was criticized for their poor decision, and the public reaction was to high heaven.
Synonyms
250
1.0
To a great degree, often to show praise or approval
57
2.7
To a very great degree
57
4.6
To a very great degree
50
3.9
To a very great degree
41
7.4
To speak or act with strong feeling and force
26
4.5
To a very high degree
22
4.8
In very large amounts, often more than needed
17
4.4
Use all your voice to shout or sing very loudly
14
8.0
To a very great degree
7
7.5
To a much greater degree than is normal
4
8.6
To a very great degree
2
4.1
As loudly as possible so people can hear
1
7.9
Very funny or easy to notice
1
7.4
In a very warm and emotional way that shows strong feeling
1
7.3
Much more expensive than it should be
1
5.6
A time when excitement or tension is very high
In a very energetic and excited way
To an extremely large degree
Antonyms
How Intense
Surface Forms
Morphology
The sense 'to an extreme degree' is partly derivable from 'high' (great degree) combined with 'heaven' (ultimate or extreme place), so a learner who knows the words can often infer it functions as an intensifier. However, the meaning is a conventionalized metaphorical extension and the exact collocation 'to high heaven' is idiomatic, so the relation is not fully predictable without prior exposure.
Etymology
The idiom to high heaven comes from the picture of a sound, smell, or praise that rises all the way up into the sky, with high meaning very high and heaven meaning the sky. That's why it now means 'to an extreme degree'.