mercy sake's alive
- idiom
- /ˈmɜrsi seɪks əˈlaɪv/
- Archaic
- Mercy sake's alive, I haven't seen you in years!
Examples
-
Mercy sake's alive, what in the world happened to your car?
-
Did you really just say that? Mercy sake's alive!
-
Mercy sake's alive, this cake is absolutely delicious!
-
Oh, mercy sake's alive! I can't believe you did that!
-
Mercy sake's alive, I haven't seen you in years!
-
Mercy sake's alive, what in the world happened to your car?
-
Mercy sake's alive, this cake is absolutely delicious!
Synonyms
∞
8.9
An angry or surprised question showing you do not believe something
448
7.5
A small amount of care or worry about something
200
9.7
A strong expression showing anger, surprise, or urgency
169
9.9
A strong phrase people say when they are very surprised or shocked
147
8.9
A short cry to show surprise, confusion, disbelief, or casual acceptance
35
9.6
To say when you are very surprised or shocked
29
7.6
A short phrase people say to show surprise or disbelief
29
9.4
A short informal cry showing surprise or strong feeling
18
9.8
A short word people say to show surprise, admiration, or annoyance
16
8.3
A short sound people say to show surprise or excitement
11
7.5
A short phrase people say to show surprise or shock
10
9.5
A short word people say when they are surprised or shocked
9
9.9
A strong old word people say to show surprise or shock
6
9.1
A short sound people make when they feel a quick pain
6
8.6
Words people say to show relief, joy or surprise
4
6.1
Often comes before a word to show anger or surprise
4
9.9
A short cry showing surprise or sudden understanding
3
9.7
A strong spoken request or cry that shows shock and anger
1
8.4
A short sound people make when they suddenly understand something
1
9.9
A short old word people say to show surprise or strong feeling
1
9.9
An old word that people say to show surprise or strong feeling
1
9.9
An old word people say to show surprise, anger, or shock
1
9.9
A short shout that shows surprise or shock
1
9.9
An old Irish word said to show surprise or strong feeling
1
9.9
A short phrase people say when they feel surprised or do not believe something
1
9.9
A strong cry showing surprise or shock
1
9.9
A short phrase people say to show surprise at something amazing
1
9.9
A loud informal shout that shows surprise, shock, or strong annoyance
1
9.9
A short cry showing surprise or shock
Shout loudly because you are surprised or shocked
A short shout to show surprise or amazement
Surface Forms
Morphology
mercy + sake's + alive
This is a fixed, dialectal exclamation (e.g. “mercy sakes alive!”) whose meaning ‘an expression of surprise or disbelief’ cannot be compositionally derived from the literal senses of mercy (compassion), sake(s) (purpose), and alive (living). The constituent words and their literal relations do not transparently yield the interjectional force, so a B1 learner who only knows the parts would likely not predict the overall meaning.
Etymology
Mercy sake's alive comes from older religious cries. People would shout mercy to ask God's help and add sakes alive as a folk extra when they were very surprised, so the phrase came to mean 'surprise' or 'disbelief'.