holy terror
3
8.9
- noun
- /ˈhoʊli ˈtɛrər/
- Informal
:
pequeño demonio
- He's a rascal of a holy terror.
Examples
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After the birthday party, all the parents agreed that the birthday boy was a holy terror with his wild antics.
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The little boy was such a holy terror, always getting into trouble at school.
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- Your son is a holy terror.
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- You're some kind of holy terror, you know that?
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- Isn't he a holy terror?
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She was a holy terror!
Blog text (15) -
Parents often describe their toddlers as holy terrors when they refuse to listen.
Synonyms
168
4.6
A child who behaves badly and annoys others
36
7.3
A child who causes trouble and is hard to control
4
9.5
A child or young person who is noisy and badly behaved
1
7.2
A child who behaves badly and causes a lot of trouble
Antonyms
How Troublesome
Surface Forms
Morphology
The head noun 'terror' still conveys a troublesome or frightening person, and in 'holy terror' 'holy' functions as an intensifying/ironic modifier rather than its literal sacred meaning, so a learner who knows both words could plausibly infer 'an extremely troublesome person (often a child)'. However, the idiomatic use of 'holy' as an intensifier and the conventionalized sense for a mischievous child are not fully predictable, making the expression only partially transparent.
Etymology
Holy terror comes from a joking image: imagine a child so wild they would shock even a quiet church, so people put holy meaning 'religious' together with terror meaning 'something frightening' to describe very bad behavior. That's why it now means 'a very troublesome child'.