to go berserk
32
7.7
- phrasal verb
- /ɡoʊ bərˈzɜrk/
- Informal
- Yeah, lions go berserk when they smell blood.
- just went berserk
- crowd goes berserk
- people go berserk
Loading YouTube…
Watch on YouTubeThey showed Shrek and they went berserk.
- They showed Shrek and they went berserk.
- I don't, I don't think it's justified to, you know, go berserk.
- And so you start recording it, and the first time you play that recording back for the narcissist, they go berserk.
- What happened was a Veyron has been pulled over on Hyde Park Corner by two police cars and the car spotters are going berserk.
- But he, like the other robots went berserk and he went and haunted down these two guests.
- What is going on that Muslims living in Britain get radicalized some some portion of them, and then go berserk, literally.
- And this is what is behind the whole, you know, eruption now of the white working classes in the United Kingdom going berserk.
Examples
-
If Clifford finds out, we've been out all night, he'll go berserk.
-
The audience of on-the-edge kids goes berserk, guzzling beer and slam dancing with frightening intensity.
Fiction book (1994) -
The crowd was going berserk, man.
-
I mean, just go berserk.
-
If he learned that I had gone to London, he would go berserk.
Fiction book (1998) -
And he was terrified of going berserk on me himself probably.
-
Again, it was a tricky moment; if Stella went berserk, they would all be in trouble.
Fiction book (1991) -
I tried to flatter her as best I could, but she absolutely went berserk.
Fiction book (1998) -
He's going berserk.
-
During the final moments of the match, the fans went berserk when their team scored the winning goal.
Synonyms
100
7.5
To suddenly become very angry, excited, or surprised
48
4.8
To feel very angry and unable to control it
29
7.5
Suddenly become very angry
24
7.5
To act wildly and cause chaos
19
8.1
Suddenly act in a very emotional and out of control way
19
9.2
React with strong fear or excitement and lose control
18
6.1
To suddenly become very angry or upset in a loud, obvious way
15
4.4
To show sudden strong anger or upset, often like a child
14
8.1
To lose control because you are very excited or angry
11
5.1
To become violent or angry suddenly
8
5.3
To suddenly get very angry without warning
7
8.3
To become extremely angry and shout or act violently
6
7.4
To suddenly become very angry
3
8.2
To lose control of your feelings and act very upset
2
5.8
Behave in a wild way without control
2
9.9
To become very angry and act in a wild, out of control way
1
9.6
To get very excited and act loudly
1
7.5
To act violently and destroy things without control
1
9.9
To suddenly get very angry and speak loudly for a long time
1
3.7
To suddenly become very angry and not be able to control yourself
1
9.9
To become suddenly very angry and upset in a dramatic way
To suddenly become very angry and behave in a mean way
To suddenly become very angry and lose control of yourself
To suddenly become very angry
Suddenly get very angry and show it
Antonyms
How Angry
- Informal
32
7.7
1
3.7
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: 'go' expresses a change into a state and 'berserk' denotes 'wild, frenzied, out-of-control' behavior, so a learner who knows both words can infer 'become violently angry or out of control'. The 'go + adjective' pattern is a common, transparent grammar construction cross-linguistically, so the overall MWE is immediately derivable from its parts.
Etymology
The phrase go berserk may come from old Norse warriors called 'berserkers' who fought in a wild, uncontrolled way and sometimes wore bear skins. Here go means 'become', and because berserk described that wild fighting, go berserk now means 'to become violently angry or out of control'.