to kick someone's ass
- phrasal verb
- /kɪk sʌmˌwʌnz æs/
- Offensive
- If you challenge me to a race, I will definitely kick your ass.
- go kick someone's ass
- want to kick someone's ass
- get to kick someone's ass
Examples
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Kick his ass!
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Now I feel like kicking his ass.
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Just let me know if I need to kick his ass for you.
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Yo, kick his ass, man.
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I'm gonna kick her ass.
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Kick his ass, Eddie, come on!
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I mean, we kicked those guys' asses.
Fiction book (2001) -
My boys are kicking your girls' asses.
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Chicago is kicking Iesha's ass now.
Fiction book (1993) -
Kick his ass.
Synonyms
To hit something with a long thin object or move it quickly and forcefully
Beat someone or something completely in a conflict
To hurt or defeat someone very badly, often by hitting them
Punish or hurt someone to get revenge
To beat someone very badly in a fight or competition
Hit someone many times until they are badly hurt or win against them very clearly
To beat someone by a large amount in a contest or game
To angrily tell someone off
To beat someone completely in a game or contest
Hit someone hard, often as punishment or in a fight
Win easily by a lot against another person or team
Hit someone many times until they are badly hurt
To defeat someone completely, often physically or in a game, used in rude speech
To beat someone with a whip or stick as punishment
To take firm action to punish someone
To hit someone or something very hard and damage it
To beat someone very easily and completely in a game or contest
Beat someone by a lot
To attack or punish someone suddenly and violently, often for something they did
Hit someone many times so they become badly hurt
To hit someone very hard or to shock someone very much
To hit someone's face very hard to hurt them
To defeat someone completely in a contest or argument
To yell at or threaten someone to make them try harder
Take strong action to make someone work or change
To punish or defeat someone to stop their harmful actions
Antonyms
How Decisive
- NSFW
- Offensive
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase combines literal parts ('kick' + 'ass') whose physical meaning (to strike someone's buttocks) readily maps onto a common metaphorical extension meaning 'defeat or punish someone.' However, the figurative sense is colloquial and vulgar and requires pragmatic/metaphorical knowledge beyond knowing the individual words, so it is not fully predictable for a B1 learner without exposure.
Etymology
Kick someone's ass comes from the literal image of someone being kicked in the ass during a fight or contest. That strong picture turned into a way to say 'defeat' or 'punish' someone badly, so today it means to beat someone completely.