to slam the door
- phrasal verb
- /slæm ðə dɔr/
- Informal
- And I stormed up to my room, slammed the door as an angsty teenager does.
Turn away and slam the door here.
- Turn away and slam the door here.
- So I, I ran into the bathroom, I slammed the door shut, I locked it.
- And I stormed up to my room, slammed the door as an angsty teenager does.
- And he slammed the door in her face.
- I drop everything on my seat, slam the door, locked my keys in the car.
- So I was like, OK, so I grab my shit and I'm walking out and he fucking slams the door, bro, hard.
- enabling things like, oh, I know he's mean to you and I know he's really dismissive and slams the door in your face, but he's just really intense.
- Get into my brand new, you know, city SUV back to my new office, this palatial mayor's office, slam the door shut, sit on the couch.
- He runs back to his patrol car, gets in the car and slams the door just in time to get smacked by a freaking Wonder Bread truck.
- So I just as I go, I slam the door, he goes, nothing happens.
Examples
-
Yetta announced herself, and the narrow stranger bowed before slamming the door in their faces.
Fiction book (1990) -
Louise turned away in a huff, ran upstairs, and slammed the door of her room behind her.
Fiction book (1990) -
Turn away and slam the door here.
-
-Before you slam the door, can you give me a minute?
-
You go into the bathroom and you slam the door.
-
You slam the door on me?
-
Lord knows you have every right to just slam the door in my face, but I just -- wait.
-
And when Black arrives at the Commons, they slam the door in his face.
-
Marissa stomped down the hall and into the bedroom, slamming the door behind her.
Fiction book (1991) -
Frustrated by the argument, she turned and slammed the door behind her.
Synonyms
To close or hit something with great force and make a loud noise
To hit or close something suddenly and loudly
To close a door or window quickly and hard so it makes a loud noise
Antonyms
How Angry
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning ‘‘to close a door loudly and forcefully’’ is directly and predictably derived from the constituents: 'slam' (to forcefully close or hit) + 'door' (a physical barrier), with 'the' as the definite article. This is a literal, compositional event-description found across many languages and follows a standard verb + object pattern, so a B1 learner who knows the words would readily infer the meaning.
Etymology
Slam the door comes from the clear image of someone pushing a heavy door so hard that it makes a loud bang. People often did this when they were angry or impatient, so it now means 'to close a door loudly and forcefully to show anger or impatience'.