to take over the asylum
1
9.9
- idiom
- Informal
:
convertirse en un caos
- Don't let them take over the asylum!
Examples
-
It seems like the management has lost control; the employees have truly taken over the asylum.
-
It sometimes feels like take over the asylum when inexperienced managers make all the decisions.
-
Many employees joked that upper management would soon take over the asylum if things continued this way.
-
The project turned into chaos, as if someone had deliberately taken over the asylum.
-
The situation has begun to take over the asylum.
-
In the recent meeting, the quietest members of the team suddenly spoke up, making me feel like the lunatics had taken over the asylum.
-
After the chaotic discussion turned into shouting, I thought, 'Have the lunatics finally taken over the asylum?'
Synonyms
1
6.8
A situation that becomes noisy, messy, and out of control
To suddenly become chaotic and very messy
Antonyms
How Chaotic
- Informal
17
6.1
- Informal
1
9.9
- US
4
4.5
22
2.7
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is compositionally built from 'take over' (to seize control) and 'asylum' (a mental institution), so a learner who knows those words can infer a literal meaning of seizing control of an asylum. However, its conventional figurative sense — that chaotic or unsuitable people have gained control, often used ironically — involves metaphorical and cultural nuance that is not fully predictable from the parts, so it is only partially transparent to B1 learners.
Etymology
The idiom take over the asylum comes from the picture of patients in an old asylum suddenly taking over and running the place themselves, so everything would become chaotic and out of control. So, the phrase means 'a situation becomes disorderly because the least suitable people are in charge'.