wig out
1
9.8
- noun
- /wɪg aʊt/
- Informal
:
ataque de nervios
- Her unexpected wig out during the meeting surprised everyone in the office.
Examples
-
The stress of the exam caused him to have a major wig out in the hallway.
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She had a serious wig out during the meeting.
-
After the argument he had a sudden wig out and smashed the lamp in anger.
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After the news, he had a major wig out!
-
After the unexpected news, she had a total wig out and couldn't stop crying.
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His wig out during the meeting caught everyone off guard and made things awkward.
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During the stressful event, my friend's wig out left us all worried about her well-being.
Synonyms
82
6.1
An extreme, uncontrolled feeling of fear or excitement
2
7.2
A sudden strong emotional reaction that can cause panic or loss of control
A short sudden moment when someone becomes very angry because things go wrong
Antonyms
How Extreme
Surface Forms
Morphology
wig + out
The meaning 'an episode of extreme agitation' does not follow from 'wig' (a hairpiece) + 'out' (direction/result); the phrase is informal slang whose sense is idiomatic rather than compositional. A B1 learner who knows the individual words would be unlikely to infer this meaning without prior exposure, so it should be treated as opaque.
Etymology
The noun wig out may come from the picture of a wig flying off when a person acts wildly, making a sudden, dramatic scene. That's why it means 'an episode of panic or loss of control'.