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Glite Dictionary
to kill it

to kill it

102 8.8
Do very well in something and impress people
  • phrasal verb
  • /kɪl ɪt/
  • Slang
translation icon : arrasar
  • You are going to kill it out there tonight; everyone will be impressed with your performance.

Like I had these three girls that were killing it in the industry fast.

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Examples

  • Wow, dude, you are killing it!

    L!fe Happens (2011)

  • Maybe it's confidence, maybe it's just an "x factor," but Arin killed it.

    Blog text (15)

  • Like I had these three girls that were killing it in the industry fast.

    Alannized

  • If you do that for three months, you kill it for three months.

  • You are going to kill it out there tonight, okay?

    Z-O-M-B-I-E-S 3 (2022)

  • But yeah, beauty Pie, you killed it this year.

    STEPHANIE TOMS

  • Just checked the link to his site, and he seems to be killing it with commercial work.

    Blog text (1)

  • Plus, Madonna is still killing it with her career.

    Blog text (26)

  • Benny has been killing it forever, but it's awesome to see him.

    Blog text (7)

  • It just inspires you to go out there and kill it and crush it.

Synonyms

to kick butt
vsto kill it
  • Slang
18 8.5

To do very well and win a game or contest

is used for impressive doing in many situations beyond contests
to crush it
vsto kill it
  • Informal
15 7.9

Do very well in a competition or challenge

is used more broadly for doing very well not only competitions
to murder
vsto kill it
  • Slang
11 8.6

To perform extremely well and impress many people

is less tied to public performance and fits any success
to be dynamite
vsto kill it
  • Informal
6 8.3

To be very good and impress people

is about performing exceptionally well as an action not a state

Antonyms

to fail
898 1.0

Not succeed in doing something you wanted to do

to struggle
851 2.8

To try very hard to do or deal with something difficult

How Well

to excel
58 3.7
to shine
138 3.6
to kill it
  • Slang
102 8.8
to do well
520 1.2
okay
1 1.0

Surface Forms

kill it infinitive
killed it past
killed it past participle
killing it present participle
kills it third person singular

Morphology

kill + it

The phrase uses 'kill' in a hyperbolic, metaphorical sense meaning 'to dominate or perform extremely well' rather than the literal sense of causing death, so the idiomatic sense is a figurative extension of the verb. Because this use is slangy and the pronoun 'it' gives no clear clue to the activity, a B1 learner who only knows the literal constituents would not reliably infer the meaning without prior exposure, making the construction only partially transparent.

Etymology

The idiom kill it comes from stage performers and comedians. When a performer made the audience laugh or clap a lot, people said they 'killed' because they had completely won the crowd, so kill it now means 'to perform exceptionally well'.