to dropitis kick in
- phrasal verb
- Slang
- Watching fashion influencers makes her dropitis kick in and she instantly wants to buy everything they recommend.
Examples
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Every time there's a big sale, his dropitis kick in and he can't resist grabbing new gadgets.
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The moment new sneakers hit the store, my dropitis kick in and I start shopping online.
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Don't let dropitis kick in while shopping!
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I always feel dropitis kicking in during sales.
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Whenever there's a clearance event, I can feel my dropitis kick in, and I end up buying things I don't really need.
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As soon as I see the latest tech gadgets advertised, my dropitis kick in, pushing me to make unnecessary purchases.
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Going through the aisles of a department store makes my dropitis kick in, and I often leave with items I had not planned to buy.
Synonyms
To buy something suddenly without planning or careful thought
Antonyms
Being able to stop yourself from acting on strong feelings or wants when it is hard
How Compulsive
Surface Forms
Morphology
The verb phrase 'kick in' is transparent (to begin or take effect), but the core element 'dropitis' is a nonce/slang formation not analyzable from the listed constituents and not a standard word a B1 learner would know. Even if a learner recognised 'kick in', they could not reliably infer the specific meaning ‘sudden urge to buy unnecessary items’ from 'dropitis' + 'kick in', so the expression is idiomatic and unpredictable.
Etymology
Dropitis kick in is a joking way to say a sudden urge to buy things. The word dropitis mixes 'drop' (when new products arrive) with '-itis' (a sign of sickness), and kick in means 'start' quickly, so the phrase paints the image of a sudden 'shopping sickness' that makes you buy things.