Skip to main content
to leave someone in stitches

to leave someone in stitches

6.0
Make someone laugh a lot so they cannot stop
  • idiom
  • Informal
translation icon : dejar a alguien en carcajadas
  • The comedian left the audience in stitches with his hilarious routine.

Examples

  • We were all left in stitches after hearing about their vacation mishaps.

  • Her jokes always leave me in stitches during family gatherings.

  • His jokes were so hilarious that they left me in stitches during the entire performance.

  • The comedian told a funny story that left the audience in stitches from start to finish.

  • When she shared her embarrassing moments, she had everyone in stitches laughing uncontrollably.

Synonyms

to make someone laugh
vsto leave someone in stitches
252 1.0

Cause someone to feel amused by saying or doing something funny

is more extreme producing intense uncontrollable laughter
to hit my funny bone
vsto leave someone in stitches
  • Informal
8.3

To make someone laugh a lot

is more intense causing uncontrollable laughter
to tickle someone's funny bone
vsto leave someone in stitches
  • Informal
6.9

To make someone laugh or feel amused

is stronger and makes laughter hard to control

Antonyms

15 1.4

To make someone feel tired or not interested by being dull when you speak

How Funny

to leave someone in stitches
  • Informal
6.0
to amuse
153 1.4

Surface Forms

Morphology

leave + someone + in + stitch

The meaning 'to make someone laugh a great deal' is not transparently built from 'leave' + 'someone' + 'in' + 'stitch(s)', since 'stitch' is more likely to be understood as a sewing loop or a sharp side pain and offers no clear signal of laughter. The connection (laughing causing a 'stitch' in the side) is idiomatic and culturally specific, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents would not reliably predict the idiomatic meaning without prior exposure.

Etymology

Leave someone in stitches may come from the image of people laughing so hard they bend over and their sides hurt, as if they had sewing 'stitches' in them. That's why it means 'to make someone laugh a great deal'.