to get out of hand

American Idiom: to get out of hand

To get out of hand – means to become chaotic, unmanageable, or uncontrollable.

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Watch the full video below to learn about the idiom, to get out of hand

Video Transcript

to get out of hand

We had a party over the weekend and the police showed up. We got too drunk and the party got out of hand.

Here, the party got out of hand means that the party became chaotic and it was no longer manageable.

To get out of hand – means to become chaotic, unmanageable, or uncontrollable.

Here are example sentences :

The gas price has gotten out of hand. The price per gallon has nearly doubled in a year.

The authorities should have warned the public about the viral outbreak before it has gotten out of hand.

Let’s do an exercise to better remember the Idiom.

For each question, replace a word or words in a sentence with the idiom so that the meaning of the sentence is not changed. You have five seconds per question.

Question 1:

Susan wants to leave the meeting before the heated discussion becomes uncontrollable.

Susan wants to leave the meeting before the heated discussion gets out of hand.

Question 2:

We have a water leak. Let’s call a plumber before the leak becomes unmanageable.

We have a water leak. Let’s call a plumber before the leak gets out of hand.

Practice makes perfect!

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