gut-scraper

9.9

A very strong, scary experience that tests your courage

noun

Slang

: experiencia estremecedora

The roller coaster was a real gut-scraper from start to finish.

Examples

Climbing the mountain in bad weather turned out to be a gut-scraper for the whole team.
Watching the final moments of the championship game was a gut-scraper for the fans.
That roller coaster was a real gut-scraper!
I had a gut-scraper of a time bungee jumping last summer.
The roller coaster was a real gut-scraper from start to finish.
Climbing the mountain in bad weather turned out to be a gut-scraper for the whole team.
Watching the final moments of the championship game was a gut-scraper for the fans.

Antonyms

mundaneness

6.7

A state of being ordinary and not exciting

How Intense

gut-scraper

Slang

9.9

ordeal

137 4.8

adventure

683 1.4

thrill

283 2.4

Surface Forms

gut-scraper singular

gut-scrapers plural

Morphology

gut-scraper = gut + scraper (semi-transparent) = gut + scraper

The components 'gut' + 'scraper' form a clear compound, but the idiomatic metaphorical sense (an intensely thrilling or gut-wrenching experience) is not fully predictable from the literal meanings for many learners.

Etymology

The word gut-scraper joins gut ('stomach' and also 'courage' in everyday speech) and scraper ('something that scrapes'), painting the image of your insides being scraped. So a gut-scraper is an experience that feels very thrilling, intense, or frightening and that tests your courage.